


Gardenia's Gathering of Roses

by karasunotsubasa



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragonvale AU, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Love at First Sight, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Viktuuri Fluff Bang 2019, and a little bit of angst to make it all the sweeter, bc I'm a sucker for those, but I just need my boys to be in love ASAP, so SUE ME I GUESS, things are happening way faster than acceptable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-12-26 17:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18286778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunotsubasa/pseuds/karasunotsubasa
Summary: The Gathering of Roses is a magical event, no matter how many years go by. This year it's even more special, because Yubileyny – the dragon park known for its wide array of dragons bred by the talented hands of Victor Nikiforov, the best dragon breeder in the world – has asked a small park of Hasetsu to co-op in the breeding of their new batch of event Aura dragons. As the head breeder of their park, Victor has no choice but to work with the other breeder and his dragon, but to his surprise, the moment he sees Yuuri Katsuki, what seemed to be a punishment becomes a pleasure that leads to more than he could have ever imagined - to life, and love, and happiness.After all, Yuuri lives to surprise.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> !!!!!!!!!!!!!! GUYS HI HELLO!!!! IT'S FINALLY TIME!!!! MY FLUFF BANG FIC IS HERE AHHHH!!!!!  
> it's been a long journey and I swear this fic didn't go where I wanted it to at all, but that's what victuuri do - they live their own lives out here and they demand sweetness and love. so here it is! I hope you enjoy this, and look forward to more bc I have at least 3 chapters of it planned ^u^)b
> 
> the incredible art and banner you can find below is made by the ridiculously talented [@ichiiichka](http://ichiiichka.tumblr.com/)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I can do it on my own," Victor insists, even when Lilia measures him with a hard gaze. "I've always pulled through for you, so what's the problem? You don't believe I can do it?"

"That is not what this is about," Lilia tells him, and her voice is as sour as the expression her face. "This is about the fact that you've been sleeping in Makkachin's habitat more than you have in your own bed. It's about the fact that you seem to spend more time with dragons than with humans these days. It's about the fact that we're all worried about you, Vitya. So you're doing it, end of discussion."

"So what, you're punishing me for being anti-social by assigning me the co-op duty?" Victor lifts an eyebrow at Lilia. "You do realize that it's called cooperative breeding only for the convenience of park owners, right? It doesn't require me to stick around. I could very well just ignore the other breeder after we put the dragons into the Cave."

"Then how about _you don't_ ," Lilia snaps back. "This isn't punishment, Vitya. This is an opportunity. _Don't waste it_."

"But I don't want to do this!"

Victor feels like a child: he's sitting in one of Lilia's plush chairs at the main office of Yubileyny, the biggest park in the whole of Dragonvale, and he's complaining to his superior about having to work with a breeder from another park very much  like a child who throws a tantrum after being told to play with other kids on the playground. And, sure, if Victor wasn't who he is – that is, the most accomplished breeder Dragonvale has seen in decades – he would probably be happy about this opportunity. But, as it is, he feels a little bit insulted at such treatment.

Insulted, yes, but where one party endeavours to gain something, there is always a chance for the other to do so as well. So, allowing his shrewd mind to wander, Victor lifts a hand to his face and puts a finger to his lips, deep in thought. Maybe… maybe he could use this for his own gain, too.

"If I do this," he starts when Lilia says nothing to his outburst, "you will let me take on an island of my own. I told you before that I want to start my own park some day, so how about this: I do this co-op breeding for Aura dragons and you let me have the next island under my jurisdiction."

Lilia looks at him for a long moment, as if to measure his resolve, but she finally nods. "Very well. But until you're ready to relocate, either Yakov or I will be checking up on your progress. You will still report to us until you can support yourself fully on your own. I will not have you waste a perfectly good island, if you turn to be incompetent.."

Slightly appeased, Victor nods.

"I won't waste it," he says. He crosses his ankles as he sits back in the chair more comfortably. "When are we to expect this other breeder, then? You mentioned he's coming with his Stoneheart dragon, yes?"

"He is. Minako has only good things to say about him, so I expect you both to do your best and deliver us not only the new Aura dragons, but also twins, so he can take them back to show that Yubileyny takes care of those who help us."

"Of course." Victor can't hide the fakeness that sneaks into his smile. "Nothing less from Yubileyny. We are the standard to match."

"That we are." Lilia agrees, but her hard eyes clearly say that she noticed the change in Victor's voice. "As for when he'll be arriving... I believe he should be here within an hour or so. You might want to use that time to freshen up. You stink of dragonhide."

Victor only shrugs. "It's required in my line of work, Lilia."

But, still, he peels himself out of the chair and makes for the door. Before he leaves, he turns one last time.

"Oh, wait, I almost forgot. What's the guy's name? It'd be pretty bad if I didn't know that much."

"Yuri," Lilia answers without even looking up from the papers on her desk. "His name is Katsuki Yuri. You better not do anything to embarrass us, Vitya."

"Yes, ma'am," Victor sings.

He leaves without wasting another second, because as inconvenient as this assignment is, the opportunity to have his own island is something he can't pass up on. And he'll get it, Victor's sure. After all, he gets everything he wants when sets his mind to it, so why should this be any different? It's just dragon breeding... right?

 

 

 

 

He arrives in a barrage of rose petals that whip around the wings of the dragon that span overhead much like rose petals themselves: rounded and layered, and rose hued. Victor has to close his eyes and lift his arms to protect his face from the slashing attack of what's supposed to be a symbol of love, and almost falls on his butt when the ground trembles as the dragon lands heavily a little ways from him.

Only when the shaking stops and the blizzard of petals slows down to gentle caress against his skin, does he look up into an unfamiliar face: that of an adult Stoneheart Dragon, who looks at him like he's a far more curious thing than the new surroundings must be. Victor, a lover of all breeds, looks back without fear, since he knows that however imposing Aura dragons might look, they will never harm another being. There are dragons who could pose danger to humans even now when they have learned to live together, but Aura dragons are farthest of such disposition. They are sweet, loving and the most friendly of the dragons known to wizard folk. Even the Stoneheart, Ire, and Scorn dragons, whose names bring nothing but negative impressions, in truth are just as lovely as the rest of them.

So, content in his safety, Victor rakes his appreciative gaze over the beautiful snout of the dragon, before taking him in wholly: it's long, bent horns, the massive body touched by stonescale, and finally the short, supple tail, which languidly swings here and fro, bringing red with it wherever it lingers. It truly is a magnificent beast, Victor has to admit.

Amidst it all, though, one thing catches him off guard. The red of the fire pouches at the sides of the dragon's jaws and over its chest is so vivid that Victor needs to blink for a moment to get used to the colour. In fact, all the red on the dragon's body is that same vibrant red: possibly the red from the potions that the old wizard Mort accidentally fed to the first dragon of this kind. The colour is bright, almost blinding in a way, but the true beauty hides within those cheeks: red, flaming, so ready to burst with fire. They look like rubies under direct sunlight, and they're stunning.

Victor's hand itches to touch one of them, and he is sure they'll be warm. Hot even, maybe. Yet the glare of the dragon's eyes stays on him so attentively that he hesitates to move. Before he can decide on whether or not to approach it, he becomes distracted again. This time not by any dragon, which is unusual in and of itself, but by Katsuki Yuri, who effortlessly slides off the back of his Stoneheart and hops down the powerful leg all the way to the ground.

They should look silly and clumsy, those little hops he takes, but there is something in the way Katsuki Yuri moves that instantly captures Victor's attention. It demands it, in truth. And Victor, Victor gives it before he even truly knows it.

Now, Victor has never been too interested in people. He has long since preferred dragons over those of his own kind, but within seconds of catching a glimpse of Katsuki Yuri, he's unequivocally charmed by him. Even more so, when he finally sees the face of the man who seems to possess more grace in his body than the whole of Yubileyny put together – and oh, what a face it is!

"Hello," Katsuki Yuri says on an exhale that makes his cheeks delightfully puffy. There are rose petals in his dark hair, too, Victor takes notice, and his heart does as well: it trembles oddly in his chest as he stands there, mute. "My name is Yuuri, Yuuri Katsuki. Mrs. Baranovskaya should be expecting us? We're here for a co-op breeding for this event?"

It is hard to look away from the lips that speak these words, but Victor does. And then he ends up staring again, because above them are those soft, plush cheeks touched by a blush from the harsh winds of the ride, and further above those – once Victor startles himself out of his reverence – are the loveliest eyes Victor has ever seen: brown and warm, and bewitching him with sweetness.

It's as he gets lost in them that Victor absolutely gives up all pretence of normalcy.

"Hello, Yuuri!" he greets with a smile, mindful to pronounce the name exactly the way Yuuri did.

Even if his heart is beating out of his chest at his own boldness, he reaches for Yuuri's hand and bows over it to leave a fleeting kiss to his knuckles. The blush that has been adoring Yuuri's face is far darker once Victor looks up and, truly, Victor can tell that his own face must also be stained with his excitement. But that, that matters little as long as he gets to bask in Yuuri's beauty.

"Welcome to Yubileyny! I'm Victor Nikiforov, and I've been tasked with guiding you around. We're delighted to have you here," Victor says. He peers over Yuuri at the Stoneheart dragon, to whom he nods as well. "Both of you."

"Thanks," Yuuri squeaks and pulls back his hand. Victor mourns the loss, but it seems that Yuuri hasn't taken any offence in his actions, when he asks: "If it's no trouble we would like to have a day to settle in before we start breeding. Raths has come a long way, so I think the odds will be against us if we try to force it when he's tired."

Victor nods eagerly, because isn't that just the perfect excuse for him to stay with Yuuri longer?

"Good thinking," he says. "How about I show you both to the habitat for... Raths, was it?  And then I will take you to the inn, so you can rest as well. Travelling on dragonback can't be too comfortable for such a long time."

"That would be nice. Thank you."  

Yuuri's voice is as pleasant to listen to as his face is to look at, and Victor wouldn't mind hearing more of it. Yuuri, however, doesn't seem too generous with his words. He falls silent after that, but that is more than alright. Victor suddenly has a lot to say, and so he fills the silence with endless chatter in hopes of eliciting another reply from Yuuri's sweet lips.

"Your Stoneheart looks really impressive. Lilia really knows how to choose the best, I'll give her that." He smiles when Yuuri's face scrunches up like he wants to protest. "Don't be modest. You can't deny your skill when they are as obvious as a level eight Stoneheart dragon in the first week of the event."

"It was just luck," Yuuri insists, battling a flush that Victor wishes he could capture and keep close to his heart forever.

"And don't they say that luck is a part of your skill set for this job?" Victor winks. "I know a great breeder when I see one, Yuuri. Trust me, if you can't trust yourself."

Yuuri says nothing to that, but the way his eyes flutter shut at the praise… _oh._

Victor doesn't remember ever feeling this way. Something so strange has happened to him the moment he saw this man, he can't even explain it. It's impossible to put in words, and it's impossible to define in feelings either. It's just…

Victor has had his fair share of flings here and there, fleeting romances that never lasted longer than a few months. He knows the signs of attraction by now. This, however, is nothing like that at all. This, this feels like… oddly enough, this feels like he's smitten already, and it's ridiculous, no? They've only just met.

And yet, as Victor leads Yuuri down the pathways of the Aura island and rose petals float around them, he can tell that this meeting and the time they will spend together is special.

"We have a few habitats around here that can take Raths, but do you have any preference?" he asks, just to have something to talk about. "We can put him with other Auras, or we can put him alone, depending on how he behaves with other dragons."

"I think he'd like to be with others," Yuuri says, looking back at the dragon, who has been patiently padding behind them. The small, fond smile that lights up Yuuri's face renders Victor absolutely awed. "We are quite unlike each other in that department."

"Ah," Victor clears his throat and offers a smile of his own. "Not a people's person, are you? I can relate. I'm much more a dragon's person, if you know what I mean."

Yuuri laughs, a sweet little sound that makes Victor's skin tingle all over.

"I do know what you mean, and I agree. Dragons are so much easier to be around."

Smiling, Victor looks at Yuuri, and finds his eyes already on him. Yuuri's cheeks colour at having been caught, but after briefly looking away, he turns his gaze back on Victor as if he is just as drawn to him as Victor has found himself charmed in return.

"I have a feeling we'll get along quite well, don't you think?" Victor says, heart full of this strange lightness that only warms over further when Yuuri offers a tiny: "I have a feeling you might be right."

And, truly, Victor doesn't know what is the name of the thing he feels, but he feels it anyway – and it's soft like the rose petals he brushes from Yuuri's hair with a dazzling smile.

 

 

 

 

Victor sets up Raths in the habitat with two Serenity dragons, a Delight, and a Petunia dragon. The Stoneheart seems content enough among them, sniffing and nuzzling, until one of the Serenities swats him over the snout with a fluffy wing. Victor laughs at his misfortune, but Raths takes it in style: he backs off and finds a patch of hard stone to sunbathe in, and after a moment the Petunia joins him, both their tails gently twined.

Yuuri seems happy enough with this turn of events and he has no qualms with leaving for the island's inn. He does look back a few times, but Victor assures him that Raths will be well taken care of, and each time he receives a smile for his troubles, which in his mind? Absolutely damn worth repeating himself.

"You care a great deal about him, don't you?" Victor asks with a fond smile, which only grows when Yuuri replies with a smile of his own.

"It's my job, for one. But mostly, I just love dragons," he says. "I always have, ever since I was a boy."

"I watched my father hatch his first Prism dragon when I was five," Victor replies, nodding. "There hasn't been anything else for me since."

"I know," Yuuri admits to Victor's surprise. When Victor looks at him, though, Yuuri's flushed face is turned away from him, as if he's embarrassed about it. "I've– well, I've been a fan of your work for quite a while, too."

Pride – warm and ridiculous – that Victor has never felt before about any compliments thrown his way, now bursts bright inside his chest. It's so silly, he knows, but Victor can't truly help feeling what he feels, and so he accepts it, and basks in it. The praise, like Yuuri's blush, sink into his heart, and somehow make his entire world seem a better place. Fuller. Kinder.

Enough to make Victor's own cheeks soften with a pink flush.

"I–" he clears his throat. "I'm glad you find what I do worthwhile."

Yuuri, who eyes him openly now, seems shaken at the words. "Worthwhile? You… you're the best dragon breeder in the whole of Dragonvale, Victor. You're, you're a legend. Every breeder dreams of working with you or catching up to you. Surely you know that what you do is far more meaningful than just… just _worthwhile_."

"I do, I do." Victor waves a hand, but refuses to take the bait that is hidden in these words. However innocent they might be – and Victor knows that they are, because Yuuri looks at him with honest confusion in his eyes – to Victor they just sound like so many other empty words he's heard before. "Of course, I love my job. That has never been in question. I love dragons and I love breeding. It's what I want to do for the rest of my life."

And he's a fool for saying it, Victor knows it the instant the words leave his lips. Yuuri looks at him like he knows it's all a big lie, like he can see past the front Victor has been putting up for everyone for years now.

What is it about this man that has Victor in such a frenzy? He's beautiful, yes, and Victor is undeniably attracted to him, he can't deny it, but that can't possibly explain why he feels like he should trust him. It doesn't explain why he feels like Yuuri knows things about him that Victor has never shared with anyone, either. Nothing, Victor thinks, could explain this entirely unusual way he seems to be drawn to Yuuri Katsuki.

And yet, somehow, it feels so natural. So right. So… perfect.

Victor shakes his head to get rid of these thoughts, because nothing good has ever come from the direction they were taking. What, could they be soulmates? Could they be cursed? Enchanted? Is this magic at all, or is this the most ridiculous spell of all – love at first sight?

"I–" Yuuri's voice brings Victor out of his musings, a mercy to his already shaken heart. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried. It's none of my business, after all. I just hope, well, I just hope we can put this behind us and focus on breeding those Aura dragons starting tomorrow?"

Victor nods, happy to be free of the difficult topic.

"Of course. And I'm sorry, too. I don't like talking about that ,so I often get defensive when I shouldn't. It's a bit of a sore spot for me, if you will?" He offers Yuuri a smile, one of apology, which judging by Yuuri's little nod is well accepted. "I am looking forward to working with you, though. You come highly recommended."

It's Yuuri's turn to blush, and when he does so, he also makes a sweet sound of embarrassment that completely quells all of Victor's bad humour. In fact, he feels like laughing, and he does: light and free.

"I told Minako to keep it honest," Yuuri whines.

"Oh?" Victor asks, smile still on his face. "So you didn't breed that Stoneheart in one try?"

"I did, but–"

"And you didn't breed Double Leap Year in only two days of trying?"

"Well, when you put it this way, yes, but–"

"And did you or did you not get seven out of the ten new Ornamental dragons this past event?"

"It all sounds impressive when you put it this way, sure, but that isn't actually what happened. It isn't that pretty."

Yuuri is frowning now, and Victor realizes that maybe he isn't the only one who has things to be bitter about. Contrite, he steps a bit closer to Yuuri so that their shoulders can brush as they walk. It pleases him when Yuuri twitches at the first contact, but doesn't truly move away.

"You're right," Victor agrees. "I know nothing of how you did it and what else happened while that was going on, but, Yuuri, those achievements are your own. No matter how they came to be, you did it. You should be proud of yourself. Just like the people of your island are."

"You don't know that," Yuuri mumbles, but it comes quiet and subdued, and Victor smiles when he bumps their shoulder together.

"You wouldn't be here otherwise," he says.

Yuuri doesn't reply, but he doesn't need to. Victor is so content about his achievement that he begins to hum lightly as they walk up to the inn at last. The walk around the island has been nice, but it could be just as nice to sit down, ply Yuuri with food and ale, and maybe–

Victor blushes at the thought and discards it before it can even fully register as something that could perhaps happen. They pass by the pale branches of the Berrywhite Tree, where delicate pink petals rain on them much like the roses tugged about by the wind, and finally, beyond the small park with the lovely marble paths and rose bushes and sweet wooden benches, Victor sees the building of the inn.

"There," he tells Yuuri simply to have something to break the silence. "That's the inn for this island. We can, of course, house you in another, but I thought this will be the best suited in case you want to be close to Raths. Is that okay?"

"It's more than okay. It's perfect." Yuuri offers him a small smile, which still somehow manages to light up Victor's heart. "Thank you, Victor."

"No problem," Victor croaks, feeling warm all over: in heart, body and face.

He quickens his steps to match his thundering pulse and almost runs up the small stairs that lead up to the inn's door, which he pulls open to let Yuuri through first. And when Yuuri, oblivious of Victor's inner turmoil, passes by him in a gust of rose and dragon leather scent that goes straight to Victor's head, Victor knows that this, whatever this budding, rose-hued silliness is, will soon be a problem.

A big, big problem.

 

 

 

 

Yuuri's room is the biggest in the inn, courtesy of Lilia, and Victor feels no shame at all in proudly presenting it to Yuuri, who looks like he assumed he'll be sleeping in a field of dragon treats, pressed against the belly of his Stoneheart. He's awed, yes, but he also seems uncomfortable in all the luxury, and it's that that has Victor worried.

"Is it not to your liking?" Victor asks, desperate to impress him somehow. Preferably otherwise than with his achievements, which Yuuri seems to know about, but still not intimately enough to know they irk Victor badly. Maybe one day he will, and then they will–

"We can book a different room, if you aren't satisfied," he quickly offers to cut off the silly thoughts before they hatch. "Or we can visit different inns and see which one you prefer and then–"

"No, no, stop, please," Yuuri interrupts him.

He lifts a hand to stop Victor, too, but Victor falls silent at the first sound of his voice, obedient like a dog. It scares him a little, that kind of obsession, but in the moment he doesn't have the time nor the will to ponder on it. Those, and his mind, are turned to Yuuri – all for Yuuri.

"This is more than I could've hoped for, Victor," Yuuri says, sweetly humble. "And more than enough, please."

Smile coming easier now, Victor gives it to Yuuri. "I'm glad, then. If there's anything I can do or bring to help you feel more at home, never hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, but I think you have set me up with everything I could ever need."

Yuuri returns his smile, and even if it's smaller than Victor's, shyer, it's just as beautiful. Victor basks in it for a moment longer before he rings for a meal to be sent up. It arrives within moments, still warm under a heating spell. Victor dispels it with a flick of his hand and a lovely scent of Nubbleberry cream soup with fresh bread and a side of crisp chicken legs fills the air. Even Victor feels ravenous at the sight of the food.

"Why don't you join me?" Yuuri offers when it must show on Victor's face.

"I wouldn't want to impose," Victor says with an apologetic smile, to which Yuuri simply shakes his head.

"I wouldn't offer if your presence was unwelcome," he says, flushing slightly. "I'm not– We already talked about it, but I'm really not good with people. Trust me, if you being here bothered me, I would be far less…"

He makes a gesture about himself, which Victor doesn't truly know the meaning of. It doesn't matter in the end, because Yuuri smiles at him a sweet, shy smile that looks as hopeful as the sound of Victor's heartbeat is in his ears, and all of Victor's thoughts cease their course.  

"Please, join me?" Yuuri asks again. "And tell me more about the dragon you want to pair with Raths?"

At that, Victor can hardly refuse. So they sit together, eat together, and talk. He tells Yuuri about the Auras under his care, all four habitats of them. Tells him about the rest too, and some about the other members of the breeding team. And then he tells Yuuri about Alisa, the Love dragon with the best breeding stats in the entire Yubileyny, who will be the one to breed with Raths in the hopes of getting a Sweetheart, and then maybe more.

"It's good that you asked to rest for today," Victor says after the food is gone and they sip leisurely on their ale. "Alisa has been breeding since the event started, so she's probably tired as well. A break will do her good, and it's only right to have her rested. Only the best for your stud."

He winks, playful. Yuuri's cheeks flush at it brilliantly, and he quickly looks away, but Victor can't. There is something about Yuuri that draws him in more powerfully than he'd ever felt before. There was no one before him, actually. No one to ever make Victor feel this stupidly smitten straight from the start.

Yuuri clears his throat. "Will Alisa be ready for tomorrow?"

Most likely, Victor should answer, but those are not the words that leave his mouth.

"I think we should give her one more day. Raths could use it, too. And we, well, I could show you around? Have you ever been to Yubileyny before?"

"Once," Yuuri answers, taking a sip from his cup. Victor's hopes on spending more time with him wane, but that sadness doesn't last for long, because Yuuri continues: "But it was years ago and only one island, the main one, so I'm sure there is lots of things to see here that I haven't seen before. Hasetsu is a really small park, after all. There isn't much there."

And just like that, new hope blooms inside Victor's heart: happy and bright, and blind to all faults.

"Then it's a date," he says, and once again admires the red on Yuuri's face. It's precious. It's sweet. It's so delightful that he wouldn't mind watching it day after day after day–

"You're an awful tease, did anyone ever tell you that?" Yuuri mumbles into his cup, before he drains it and fills it up more from the pitcher that magically refills itself for the third time since they started drinking.

Victor chuckles. "Who said anything about teasing? I mean everything I say, Yuuri."

He looks at him over the edge of his own cup, and what he sees there… Surprise is one thing, for sure. But there is also something else, something vulnerable and soft, and something wary, as if he's heard those things before and found nothing but disappointment in their result. And, of course, he must have heard them, Victor thinks. Yuuri, with his cute smiles, and his gorgeous eyes, and his graceful body, surely must have had his pick from the dating pool. To think otherwise would be silly, and while Victor is a silly man in some matters, he is a realist in others.

Now, he sits there at the table with Yuuri, and beats himself down for his own stupidity, because… there is no way someone like Yuuri isn't already taken, is there?

"Fine." Yuuri's voice brings him out of berating himself for assuming, and Victor looks up, startled. "It's a date, then."

This turn of events… well, that Victor didn't expect at all. He blinks, caught off guard, but Yuuri isn't looking at him at all. There is a flush on his cheeks, still, but this time it's deeper. Darker. Sweeter.

And Victor finds himself blushing just as hard, when Yuuri's eyes suddenly turn to him with a gaze so intense that he feels bare to his very soul before them. He coughs, drinks his ale, and fights for breath, but he cannot truly find it under the weight of Yuuri's attention. It feels good to have it all directed at him, yes, but it also feels like his very skin is about to melt off his face from the heat that comes in its wake, and wow, Victor never imagined that something as simple as blushing could feel this way.

"I, ah, I will pick you up in the morning then," Victor finally settles on saying. "I should be going now, anyway. I already stayed too long, and you need to rest."

He stands up, and Yuuri stands with him, but there is an unmistakable sway to his head that suggests he might have had a tad too much to drink, which… was entirely Victor's fault. If Lilia found out about this… Victor shudders at the thought of the consequences.

He makes for the door, but he pauses before it and looks back to Yuuri.

"If you want to see Raths before dawn, feel free to," he says with a smile. "I often sleep with Makkachin, my first-bred Rainbow dragon, so I won't judge."

As if those were the magic words Yuuri was waiting for, his shoulders drop in visible relief.

"Can you take me to him?" he asks eagerly. "I would go myself, but I don't think I know the right way… And getting lost at night would be a dumb thing to do."

Victor, whose mind supplied many alternative endings to the two of them getting lost in the night together, shakes himself out of his daydreams and nods.

"Sure. Let's go then."

 

 

 

 

The sun has already been gone a long while when they leave the inn, and the soft orange glow of the street lamps lights up the pathways of the Aura island. Yuuri trips on the even stones twice, and catches himself both times with his unparalleled balance, but Victor thinks he'd rather not risk him falling, so he takes him under arm.

His plan is a good one, sure, but in all his consideration for the safety of Yuuri's cute nose and squishy cheeks, Victor doesn't truly put much thought into what that closeness will do to his heart. As it turns out, the moment he loops his arm with Yuuri's, his heart begins to race, which in and of itself would be bearable, but… Yuuri presses into his side, too, and he smells so wonderfully like home that Victor finds himself dizzy from simply walking next to him.

Or maybe that's just the ale they drunk together, he wouldn't be able to tell.

"You're a lot different than I imagined," Yuuri says after a while, looking at his feet as they shuffle along the white stone path.

The words come unexpected, and their meaning strikes Victor's open, vulnerable heart. He takes a breath to steady the sudden ache, but the more he breathes, the more obvious it becomes to him that this, whatever it was shaping up to be, would have never made any sense. No rhyme, no reason, no future whatsoever.

Yuuri, unaware of Victor's heartache, keeps talking. "But I think it's a good different. Like you're actually human just like me, and not some god that everyone makes you out to be."

He turns his head to smile at Victor and later, a few months, a year, a dozen years later, Victor will always claim that this is the moment he truly falls in love with him.

"I like this you better," Yuuri says, smiling and flushed, and Victor's world tilts on its axis.

There is no time for him to think about it this confession, though, because Yuuri stumbles again and Victor has his hands busy keeping them both from toppling over. He manages just fine, but his heart… well, his heart seems to have taken that as an invitation to beat out of alignment, and it begins a wild goose chase after Victor's so far unattainable dream: that of life and love, and happiness.

"You shouldn't say things like that, Yuuri," Victor chides, breathless. "You're drunk. What if I were to misunderstand?"

"Misunderstand?" Yuuri repeats, then laughs quietly. "Like that date thing before?"

Victor flushes, but doesn't correct him. And that's his mistake, it seems, because Yuuri steps around him to block the path in a way that demands attention. His eyes are curious, dark and beautiful when they peer into Victor's.

"Did I misunderstand?" he asks, sounding horrified. "Were you not asking me out? I– I'm pretty dumb when it comes to those things, so if I took it in a way you didn't mean–"

"No, no," Victor breathes. "I meant it. That way."

Yuuri frowns, confused, and Victor blushes at his own blunder. What he said… it didn't even make any sense, did it? Maybe he had too much ale as well, he thinks as he lifts a hand to press against one of his burning cheeks.

"I mean," he corrects himself, "I did ask you out on a date as in 'please consider dating me, because I think I like you and I definitely find you very attractive'."

He says it all on a single breath and some of his words come out complete garbled, but Yuuri seems to understand him perfectly. His face lights up with a blush, and he smiles: a beautiful, bright smile that steals all of the breath that still somehow remained in Victor's lungs. Before Victor knows what's happening, before the daze he's in from the strength of that smile passes, Yuuri steps closer and takes him in his arms for a hug.

It's warm, and it's nice, but Victor finds himself frozen still within Yuuri's embrace. His mind seems to have paused all activity and so did his heart, because he can't even feel anything other than the silky texture of Yuuri's hair on his cheek and his breath on the side of his neck.

"I find you very attractive, too," Yuuri's voice runs down Victor's spine in a rain of shivers.

He wants to lift his arms and close them around Yuuri to return the hug, but he can't seem to move at all. Not that it matters, really. Yuuri seems happy enough with what he's done, and lets Victor go. He takes a few steps back, sways a little, but doesn't fall. The moment's uncertainty is enough to unfreeze Victor from his stupor. Just in case, he takes Yuuri's hand and laces their fingers together before they go on their way.

And all the while, Yuuri's smile warms up his heart like a tiny little sun that shines just for him within the darkness of his boring life.

 

 

 

 

The morning finds Victor wide awake in his bed, like he's been through most of the night. He just… he just couldn't force himself to sleep. The thoughts of Yuuri kept coming back to him, sweet and vivid enough to chase away any lingering exhaustion. In fact, for someone who hasn't slept a wink, Victor feels full of life and as clear-headed as he hasn't been in… weeks? Months? Maybe even years.

He slips out from under the covers with a grin, showers while humming, and spends almost an hour in front of his wardrobe, picking from mostly the same work outfits _just because_. Well, it's more than just because. It's because he's going to meet Yuuri, but he tries to pretend that it isn't that at all… and fails spectacularly even before he settles on an outfit.

Dressed, he stares at himself in the big wardrobe mirror.

"Who are you trying to fool?" he asks his own reflection, which is still excitedly flushed.

Victor always knew he looks good, and his face has been an attribute that allowed him many liberties in life, but now there is something more about his face. Something lively and maybe childish, but so full of joy that a grin makes it onto his lips without him even trying for it – and it's a true, honest one, too.

"I'm hopeless," he decides with no hint of upset in his voice.

And as hopeless as he is, he skips down the stairs of his apartment building, drops by a bakery to grab some breakfast for him and Yuuri – Yuuri, whom he'll see in less than ten minutes! – and merrily makes his way to the inn, where he thinks he'll find the man who took him by storm of rose-scented craze.

It's a blessing that the path from the portal leads right next to the habitat Yuuri's Stoneheart has been placed in, because surely Victor would otherwise miss him. Now, as he walks by, he can clearly see Yuuri's sleeping form slumped against Raths' big belly. It brings a smile to his lips, this scene. Oh, how often does he find himself in just the same way with his Makkachin! To see someone else take comfort in a dragon's friendship like this truly warms Victor's heart.

All the more when it's Yuuri – the one for whom Victor's heart seems to be so hellbent on swooning. As he looks at Yuuri's content face nuzzled into the dragon's neck, Victor can't help but agree with his heart's choice.

Smiling fondly, he takes a few steps towards the sleeping pair, but freezes the moment Raths opens one eye to glare at him. He's protective of Yuuri, that much Victor can tell from the simplest of clues. They stare at each other for a moment and, even if a Stoneheart will never be as possessive as a Scorn, Victor intends to tread carefully. It is well known that a dragon can and _will_ be violent to protect those it deems family, which Victor has no doubt Yuuri is to Raths.  

After a moment's staring, though, the dragon gives a soft snort of acceptance and rests his head back in Yuuri's lap. Before he comes any closer, Victor takes a deep breath to relax. He might be a breeder, and he might love all his dragons, but even he gets tense around unknowns. Thanking all the Great Wizards of Old, Victor creeps closer and kneels at Yuuri's side. Raths doesn't stir, but he opens his eyes when Victor reaches his hand out to gently shake Yuuri awake.

It's too bad that the only thing his courage gets him is a snore. Victor is so startled by how unexpected it is that he snorts. Still, even then, Yuuri doesn't wake up.

"Incredible," Victor decides, stifling laughter.

He thinks of pinching Yuuri's cheek to wake him up, but… before that…

He bites his lip.

Raths returned to slumbering, but even without the dragon's watchful eye just the thought of doing what Victor wants to do gets his palms sweaty. Yuuri seems to be deeply asleep despite Victor's inner dilemma, and the longer Victor looks at him, the more convinced he becomes that there truly will be no harm in it, no? It's just… He's just going to touch, nothing more, right? And his plan is to wake Yuuri up, so even if he does, Victor has nothing to be ashamed or defensive of.

He nods to himself, licks his lips nervously, and shifts a little closer before he lifts his hand to touch Yuuri's soft cheek. His palm settles on it like it was made to match. It cups it perfectly, and leaves just enough room for Victor to tenderly run his thumb over the delicate skin, which he remembers flushing so vividly. Driven by impulse, Victor slides his hand further and dips his fingers into Yuuri's hair, and... it's as silky as he imagined. He gives into a sigh, combing Yuuri's hair behind his ear.

He's beautiful.

Victor's thumb drags down the line of Yuuri's jaw, and then upwards of his chin – to settle against his lips. Plush and pretty pink, they part on every one of Yuuri's breaths. They tickle Victor's skin as if to tease, and against everything he meant to do, Victor finds himself blushing like a thief caught red-handed at the scene of a crime.

It's no sooner that he thinks it, that Yuuri's eyes flutter open, and Victor's fears turn into reality before he can even gasp. He's caught with his hand on Yuuri's face, his thumb on Yuuri's lips, and his face burning hot as he quickly snatches himself away.

"Victoru–?" Yuuri mumbles over a yawn.

The way he says Victor's name is different, softer, almost as if he puts more breath into it, and Victor finds himself loving it more than anything. In the moment, however, he is already moving away in order to hide his blush.

"Good morning, Yuuri! How did you sleep? Did you stay here the whole night? Weren't you cold?" he asks, gripping onto neutral territory. "I brought us some breakfast, by the way! Do you like brownies? I have a couple of those, and then I also got some muffins, too, because I wasn't sure if you liked chocolate, and then–"

Yuuri's groan cuts him off. Victor looks up from the bag he brought along to see Yuuri with mussed up hair and glossy eyes, and the most adorable nose wrinkle Victor has ever seen.

"Do you always talk this much in the morning?" Yuuri grumbles.

Victor clears his throat, blushing harder for some reason. "Well, I'm always told that I talk a lot when I'm excited about something, and it's true that I've always been a morning person, so I'd have to answer – yes, I most likely do."

Yuuri groans again. This time, he pushes himself off of Raths' back and rubs at his eyes, and once again he almost kills Victor with cuteness.

"I'll have to remember to avoid you in the mornings then," Yuuri mumbles as if to himself, but Victor can't help feeling a little hurt at such blatant dismissal.

He thought… he thought that maybe with Yuuri, after all that he said to him last night, that maybe at last Victor will be able to finally be himself around someone. To be himself without minding anyone's preferences, without playing someone he isn't just to please–

"But, I guess, if you promise to bring me breakfast every day, I might let you off easy," Yuuri says, unaware of Victor's soured mood. "Buy me lunch."

Victor blinks. "That's it?"

Yuuri frowns at him, and once again Victor is hit by the unbearable cuteness of him, squinting in the early morning sun. "What, you want more? Fine, then dinner, too."

It's weird, this entire thing, and Victor gives in to the weirdness: he laughs. First he tries to stifle it, but then it just flows out of him in an endless stream of chuckles. Yuuri sits through it all with a small wrinkle between his brows, but his frown is far lighter than it was before, and when Victor finally gets a handle of himself, he's even smiling a tiny bit, too.

"Oh, Yuuri, that wasn't subtle at all," Victor says, wiping tears from his eyes. "If you wanted me to take you for dinner on our date, you could've simply asked."

A startling blush appears on Yuuri's cheeks faster than Victor finishes speaking. Victor, on his end, basks in it. He winks when Yuuri briefly meets his eyes, and grins when Yuuri quickly ducks his head away.

"I wasn't–" Yuuri starts, stumbling over his tongue. "I didn't mean– I–"

"It's alright," Victor tells him, heart suddenly light and full. "I know just the place we can go to."

Yuuri's precious flush spreads until even the tips of his ears are red. He doesn't say anything else, though. Instead, grabs the bakery bag Victor brought with him and digs into the brownies with vengeance.

And all to a very pleased, very amused, and a very, very happy Victor watching.

 

 

 

 

"And these are our Aura dragons from this event," Victor says, pointing towards the habitat on their right and the one next to it. "We currently only have six pairs, but we're hoping for four move by the end of the event."

"Not going for a full set?" Yuuri asks. He stays in place, even when the Delight dragon bounces over to sniff at the hand that Yuuri offers to him.

"You always need to be realistic with these events," Victor explains, smiling, when the dragon snorts at Yuuri's hand and bumbles away. Yuuri's grin matches his own when he turns to Victor again, so beautiful and sweet that Victor's heart hurts. "It's fine to go after all of the new dragons, but you're better off setting reachable goals and ending up pleasantly surprised, than otherwise."

Yuuri opens his mouth to say something, but he's interrupted by a loud screech. The Serenity Dragon dives over their heads into the middle of the habitat, but, be it on accident or on purpose, her full tail slaps Victor on the back hard enough that he has to take a few forced steps so as not to fall down face-first into the grass.

He's ready to pout, because he can tell that the fluffy feathers on Euler's tail have ruffled his own hair something awful, but the trilling, shocked laughter that spills from Yuuri's lips makes his own face lit up with awe instead of upset. Yuuri giggles, trying oh-so-hard to stifle it with a hand over his mouth, yet when Victor looks at him, he starts giggling anew, and then he just... lets go.

If Victor wasn't already smitten with him, he would be now, he has no trouble believing that.

"Sorry," Yuuri chokes out once he calms down a bit. "You just look..."

He gestures with a hand towards his own head, and sure – Victor knows he looks ridiculous. But even when Yuuri points it out, he somehow can't find it in himself to be truly angry about it. Not when Yuuri looks at him like that: like he's happy to be here with him.

"Fix it for me?" Victor asks, smiling as sweetly as his heart beats in his chest.

And when Yuuri blushes and squeaks a little, "Sure," it sounds just as sweet to Victor's ears.

Yuuri steps up to him, lifts his hand and sinks his fingers into Victor's hair, and– Oh, Victor thinks on a stolen breath. It feels far too good.

Yuuri's fingers run through his hair, pat it down and smooth it out, which reminds Victor of how he always pampers Makkachin. One could take offense to such a comparison, after all Victor is hardly an animal to be pet, but the feeling he gets now is much too similar to how he feels when he's with Makka: warm, safe, loved.

And it's divine.

He doesn't even notice when he closes his eyes and breathes a small, happy sigh, but he does notice it when Yuuri pulls his hand back.

"There," Yuuri says, voice soft. "I think it's done."

There's a tender blush staining Yuuri's cheeks – a light one, but still most precious – and it greets Victor first thing when he opens his eyes again. Already mourning the loss of his touch, Victor snatches Yuuri's hand and kisses it in thanks. Just because he wants to, and because he can – the way Yuuri's allows his hand to stay in Victor's is enough of a tell.

So, abusing whatever trust Yuuri has in him, Victor keeps holding that hand as he pulls Yuuri around the habitat to where they stock dragon feed. There is another habitat just next to this one, housing the younger dragons which they still haven't had the time to level up.

With sparkling eyes, Victor grabs a bag of treats and tugs Yuuri over. It only adds to his excitement that Yuuri follows him without protest. The way his hand sits in Victor's, the way his warmth seeps into his skin; it's all so wonderful that Victor... well, he wants to keep holding onto Yuuri forever, if possible.

And, frankly, being with Yuuri like this makes him think that _everything_ is possible. Even that.

"Oh," Yuuri breathes at his side, an excited little breath. "They're so cute!"

He means the baby dragons, who like one bounce their way as soon as they come near. It isn't long before Victor has an armful of a delightfully pink Scorn dragon cradled to his chest and, laughing, he accepts all the dragon kisses the little guy drowns him with.

"We have a Honeyglow here that we haven't levelled up yet, so I was thinking that maybe you'd like to do the honours?" he asks Yuuri over the small dragon's head, which turns green the moment he looks away from him. Victor clicks his tongue fondly at the sudden change, and chides: "Oh, you little jealous rascal. You're such a big baby, I swear! I'm only delegating work so I can give you all my attention. Turn that green down, Bryllyg, please."

Yuuri's eyes are dancing with mirth when Victor looks back at him after the dragon reluctantly changes its scales into the lovely pink once more. Yuuri shakes his head at the wink Victor offers him, but the smile that plays on his lips is the most beautiful Victor has seen as of yet.

Or so Victor thinks, but, truly, every single one of Yuuri's smiles is a thing of beauty.

"Seems like you have quite an admirer here." Yuuri's teasing is light while he takes the bag of treats from Victor's hand.

"This? This is nothing," Victor replies, scratching behind Bryllyg's white horns. "You should've seen the trouble one of our breeders had with a fully grown Scorn. She didn't want to let him close to a girl for months. He had to bribe her with cuddles, and then get her approval before he'd even consider dating someone. And even the she was prone to chasing away all his girlfriends. It was quite a challenge for the poor fellow, let me tell you."

"Awful," Yuuri says, but his voice suggests that he thinks it's anything but that. Victor laughs.

"I know, right?" he agrees, still grinning. "Come on, let's introduce you to Fafnir. He's a little shy, but I think you'll get along as soon as you have a treat in hand."

And it is exactly how he says.

Fafnir hides from them behind a rose bush, but Yuuri knows his way around dragons well enough that Victor doesn't really need to tell him what to do. He simply stays at his side and watches how Yuuri kneels in the dirt and sets out the treats one after another, after another, after another... and then grabs one and bites into it – and that's that. With a loud screech, Fafnir is by his side before he can even swallow the bite of his Berry Bauble.

In no time, too, he's eating out of the palm of Yuuri's hand, and Victor, already smitten with a man whom he's only known all but two days, feels like he'd give anything to be that dragon. Especially when Yuuri glances up at him with happy eyes, which now look just as honeyed and glowing as the scales of the Honeyglow in his lap.

Yuuri must notice something in Victor's face, maybe his smile or the crystal clear longing in his eyes, because he seems like he wants to say something. Before he can, though, a different glow makes them both alert. The Honeyglow grows as it evolves into its juvenile form, taking up more of Yuuri's lap and the ground around them.

"How far do you want to level him up?" Yuuri asks, reaching out to pet the now bigger head of the dragon, who nuzzles into his hand, sneaky in his search for more treats.

"We usually bring all our dragons up to level 10," Victor says. "You can give him some more, if you want."

That's all it takes for the dragon to bypass Yuuri's hand and dive for the bag of treats. Yuuri laughs and swipes it away from him just in time, and the big jaws chomp on air. Honeyglows can't pout, but if they could, Victor is sure this one would be doing it right about now.

The grin on his own face is so wide it almost hurts. Almost.

"No, no, you wait a second, mister!" Yuuri taps a finger on the amber-scaled snout, grinning when the dragon snorts in surprise as it rears its head back. "One treat at a time. You'll choke if you're greedy."

The Honeyglow only huffs a string of smoke at him, though, so very impatient to get more. Victor feels like the luckiest man alive when Yuuri laughs again. This, Victor decides, is the sweetest sound the universe has to offer, and he can't help but wish to listen to it till the very day he dies.

Yuuri feeds the dragon until it evolves into its adult form, and then pets him for a while. The Honeyglow curls around him in a way that offers Yuuri's back perfect support, and Yuuri sits back against him. He looks so comfortable, so at home that Victor can't help but feel like he's truly found someone special in this man – someone who can truly understand him.

He settles himself next to Yuuri, who offers him a smile when he does, and sets Bryllyg in his lap. Yuuri moves the treat bag to sit between them. Together, they slowly feed the Scorn, which soon curls around them, too. They don't speak, but it doesn't seem to be necessary when their shoulders brush with the Honeyglow's breaths, and the warmth of that touch says all that needs to be said.

So, in silence, for the first time in a long while, Victor allows himself to just _be_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting the Auras, Victor takes Yuuri around Yubileyny's many islands to show him the nursery, the breeding cave, and other attractions that always make visitors excited for more. Yuuri, of course, is sufficiently awed, which brings a tremble to Victor's silly, silly heart every single time Yuuri 'ahhs' and 'oohs', and coos at all the dragons they meet.

Still, the lower the sun gets on the horizon, the more Victor can't wait for it to disappear, because that… that will mean it's time for dinner, and it's time for their date. Though, when he thinks about it, they spent the whole day together, so… could they have been on a date this entire time?

At that thought, happiness lights up Victor's chest like the streets lamps do the island around them when it's finally time.

"So, where are we going?" Yuuri asks, smiling at Victor's excitement, and isn't that just precious? Isn't that the sign that he's someone Victor should never ever let go of?

"This way," Victor only says, taking Yuuri by the arm and leading him to a portal.

They warp away into one of the apartment islands, conveniently also the one Victor lives on, and without letting go of Yuuri, Victor leads him towards his favourite restaurant. Yuuri doesn't protest, but his cheeks are tenderly flushed whenever their eyes meet over the short distance that separates them. That, along with everything else, makes Victor truly the luckiest and happiest man alive.

He opens the door for Yuuri, who ducks his head as he passes him. Inside, their wait in a small line, and then wait a little longer for their table to be ready. And all the while Victor can hardly look away from Yuuri. He's… well, it's silly, but Victor thinks that he's gotten even more beautiful than he was the day before, if such a thing is even possible.

"Ah, you have a petal in your hair," he says suddenly, when his eyes catch some red between Yuuri's dark hair.

"Really?" Yuuri asks, running a hand through his hair. He completely misses it, though, and frowns as he looks back to Victor. "Where?"

"Do you mind if I…?"

Victor motions with his hand, and once Yuuri nods his agreement, lifts it up to pluck the petal from Yuuri's hair. The dark strands are as soft as they were in the morning, but now Yuuri isn't asleep – he's awake, and his beautiful brown eyes are focused on Victor's face,  which is enough to make Victor's heart flutter and his cheeks colour. He quickly plucks the petal and tucks a stray curl behind Yuuri's ear, delighted to see Yuuri's face awaken with a blush that perfectly matches his own.

Wizards of the Old, Victor prays then in secret, please watch over us.

"Your table is ready, gentlemen," their waitwitch returns, smiling at the both of them as if she couldn't see their reddened faces. "If you will follow me this way?"

They don't really look at each other until they're seated. Not even when Victor pulls a chair out for Yuuri, and not when Yuuri takes it: head ducked low to hide his blush. The waitwitch leaves them with the menus conveniently spelled into crystal balls, and disappears to bring over the dragonwine that Victor orders before anything else.

"Wine probably isn't a good idea," Yuuri breaks the silence first, but only once the woman is gone, which makes Victor think he isn't as opposed to it as he'd like to be. "I get a little… wild when I indulge, far more than yesterday. It wouldn't be smart if we both had hangovers tomorrow."

"Then we will just have a glass each," Victor replies. "One can't do too much harm, no?"

And it can't. If one is all they have.

The dinner is as nice as it can be: the food is delicious, the wine fragrant, and the conversation never stills. They talk about everything and nothing, and even if it's Victor who does most of it, it feels liberating just to have someone listen to him as attentively as Yuuri does. One glass quickly becomes two, two become three – just to finish the bottle. And the more the wine flows, the more Yuuri opens up as well, and the more charmed Victor becomes. As if he needed any help with that.

"I always dreamed of breeding a Starwing," Yuuri confesses, playing with his almost empty glass.

His face is flushed, warm and sweet, and Victor sits there, opposite of him with his chin in his hand, sighing like the smitten fool he is.

"Or a Dawnbringer," Yuuri gives, and then adds: "Or a Midnight. You know, one of those extra hard to get dragons."

"I'm sure you will," Victor replies easily. "You have enough skill and enough luck to do it. I believe in you."

"You hardly know me," Yuuri points out, oddly sour. "How can you believe in me, when you don't even know what you're supposed to believe in?"

Victor smiles at that. "I might not know you as well as I would've liked _yet_ , but I believe that if you set your mind to it, you can achieve what you dream of. Your achievements this far prove that you can do it, so that's what I choose to believe in – your potential, if you will."

Yuuri looks like he wants to protest, but in the end he doesn't. He drowns the rest of his wine and sets his glass down before looking at Victor as if he's a puzzle he's trying to figure out. Victor cocks his head to the side, smiling, and waits, because surely Yuuri will tell him what–

"Do you always treat people you co-op with this way?" Yuuri asks. "Bring them breakfast, wine and dine them, encourage them with sweet words like that… Is this something you do, or is this something you are, Victor?"

Victor blinks. "I'm not sure I understand your question."

Yuuri doesn't explain, though. He looks into his empty glass, and mumbles: "I'm not sure I understand it, either."

And he doesn't say more about it. Victor lets it go, because he doesn't know how to answer, but the question keeps churning in his mind until Yuuri orders another bottle of wine. It comes as a surprise to Victor, since Yuuri was the one who insisted on not drinking, and yet he can't say no to spending more time in Yuuri's company. Since the restaurant is nearing its closing time, they take the full bottle with them and leave, walking slowly down the pathways of the island.

It's different than dragon islands are, far less spectacular. There's villas on the left, villas on the right. Some inns in-between. A restaurant, a buffet, a library here and there. It lacks the romance a night-time walk should have, and so Victor doesn't feel all too awful about guiding Yuuri towards the portal. He takes him back to the Aura island, back to where everything smells of roses and shimmers in hues of red and pink and purple, and there, he pulls Yuuri towards the Berrywhite Park.

They sit on the grass under one of the trees. The sound the cork on the wine bottle makes when Victor pops it open with magic is loud in the silence of the island, and Victor cringes a little when the cork flies through the air and knocks on the Berryheart statue that stands nearby. He offers the bottle to Yuuri first, but when Yuuri shakes his head, he takes a gulp, and another, and another, feeling the warmth so keenly it almost stings deep in his chest.

With a sigh, he falls back onto the grass. The sky is dark and star-filled, and beautiful. Yuuri, who sits by him, haloed by their glow, is far more beautiful, though.

"Do you have a lover?" Victor asks before he can curb his tongue.

Once the question is out, however, he can't take it back. He doesn't want to. What he wants now is to hear the answer, and to hear the answer that he hopes it to be. Because if Yuuri is taken, if he's already in a relationship, then Victor will–

"No comment," Yuuri says. He grabs the bottle and takes a swig.

Watching his throat work is not the smartest thing to do, Victor knows, but he can't quite help that his eyes rest there on their own, can he? He licks his lips at the same time as Yuuri does.

"Stingy," Victor says, ready to pout.

The only reason he doesn't is because Yuuri turns his head to him, starlit, and asks: "What about you?"

"Well," Victor feels his lips quirk into a smile all of their own, "I guess that depends on you, doesn't it?"

Yuuri turns away and takes another drink. This time, when he speaks, he doesn't look at Victor. His shoulders slump and his back bends, as if under heavy pressure.

"You keep saying things like that…" he says, almost bitterly. "Look, I appreciate that you're so friendly with me, and I really am thankful for all your help and guidance, but what if… what if I misunderstand you?"

"Misunderstand me?" Victor frowns, playfulness gone. He sits up to peer over Yuuri's shoulder and maybe see his expression, but his face is bowed and shrouded in darkness. "What do you mean? What's there to misunderstand?"

Yuuri sighs. "You just… you keep saying things that could be misleading. I mean, I'm not saying that I take them as you actually wanting to date me, because I know you don't mean them like that, but it's just…"

He makes a small noise that can't be put into words, but which Victor oddly enough understands perfectly. It doesn't help to lessen his frown, though. Didn't they already go over this before?

"That's a problem then," he says.

"Right?" Yuuri asks, sounding relieved, and Victor hates it. He hates it a lot. "I don't want our relationship to sour because of silly misunderstandings like that, so–"

"Are you straight, Yuuri?"

"Am I… _what_?" Yuuri chokes. His wide eyes look into Victor's serious face. "I– No, I'm not, but what–"

"Then," Victor interrupts him again, "do you find me unappealing? Ugly? Not good enough?"

"Anyone who finds you ugly would be out of their mind," Yuuri says. It's hard to hide the pleasure the words awaken in Victor's heart, but he tries for the sake of the conversation. "I don't understand what this has to do with–"

"I was flirting with you, you know? Honestly." Victor takes the bottle from Yuuri's hand. He winks. "Still am, to be fair.."

Yuuri's face is stunned in an expression of confusion, so Victor gives him a moment to collect his thoughts. He takes a gulp of the wine, and sighs as it goes down his throat smoothly.

"I will understand if you aren't interested in dating me, or dating in general," he tells Yuuri, "but everything I say, I mean it. When I say it's a date, I mean it's a date. When I say you're beautiful, Yuuri, I mean that I find you utterly ravishing." Yuuri's cheeks colour, despite the disbelief in his eyes. "And when I ask about your lovers, I ask because I want to know if there's any competition I should look out for, because I am absolutely enchanted with you."

"You don't even know me," Yuuri mumbles, much like he did back in the restaurant, and Victor thinks that maybe what Yuuri wanted to ask then was something like this. Something that could only be answered in one way.

"I don't," Victor admits. "Not yet. But I want to get to know you, Yuuri. All of you, in whatever way you allow. Will you let me?"

Yuuri doesn't reply for a moment. His head is turned away again as if he's deep in thought, so Victor lets him think. He sees one of his ears, turned slightly darker, but that could also be the shade of the tree above their heads, scattering starlight over them both.

Yuuri grabs the wine bottle before he says anything, and takes a few gulps – enough to make him breathless when he finally speaks.

"No lovers."

Victor's heart lights up with hope. "Then does that mean–?"

Yuuri slowly turns his head to him, flushed, but determined. "I don't do things like this, Victor. I don't, I don't fall in love at first sight, and I don't date… um, like? Ever? This isn't something I do. Did."

Before Victor can say anything to convince him, Yuuri shakes his head and looks down at the bottle in his hand like it's the sole answer and reason for all of this.

"Ever since I arrived and saw you, though, I feel like I've been drunk on something," Yuuri says to the bottle. "Like I can't really stop feeling this thing, and it all gets fuzzy and warm, and nice around you… Does that make any sense, or am I just drunk?"

"I–" Victor swallows through his suddenly clenched throat. "No, I, I've been feeling the same thing."

"Are _you_ drunk?" Yuuri asks as if it's the most obvious follow-up, and Victor can't help but snort.

"No," he says. "Or, well, maybe now I'm a little bit drunk, but I was definitely sober when we met yesterday."

Was it only yesterday? It's hard to believe that it's only been a day, what with how Victor's heart trembles every time Yuuri looks his way… A single day to fall in love. Is such a thing possible without magic?

"You never answered me, though," Victor remembers.

"You want this," Yuuri asks, but he sounds more like he's answering a question than posing it. Victor nods, nonetheless. "You want to date me." Victor nods again, hopeful. "I– I've never…"

"That's okay," Victor rushes to reassure. "We can take it slow, just enjoy each other's company. I promise I will not try to get you naked until you ask me for it."

Even in the starlit darkness of the night, Yuuri's blush is clearly visible. And a thing of beauty, too. Victor can't help feeling pleased when Yuuri lifts a hand to cover his eyes. His embarrassment lasts only a moment, though, and once it passes, Yuuri looks at him with dark, driven eyes that make Victor feel bare under their weight.

"What if I asked you now?" Yuuri says, slightly hoarse.

And this time, this time it's Victor who blushes at the unexpected words. He thought embarrassed Yuuri was cute, and so Victor said things to see him flush more, but this? This is Yuuri fighting his fire with one of matching power, or stronger, and – as it turns out when another shiver runs down Victor's spine – Victor is absolutely weak against it.

He recovers quickly, matching pace with the heartbeat that trashes around his chest as he leans closer to Yuuri. Yuuri doesn't back away, not in the least, but Victor hears the moment his breathing stops, because his own does it, too, almost at the same time.

"And will you?" he asks, breathless. "I wouldn't mind…"

They're close enough to touch foreheads, but Victor doesn't realize that until Yuuri rests his forehead against his own and closes his eyes. His eyelashes are dark, thick, and as beautiful as the rest of him when they flutter open again. Victor looks into Yuuri's eyes and sees the truth of it: he isn't ready yet.

So before Yuuri can say anything, Victor says it for him.

"Not tonight," he murmurs.

"I'm sorry, I just–" Yuuri starts, but Victor only tips his head to gently touch his nose with the tip of his own. It works to cut him off perfectly.

"Don't apologize for something like that," he chides fondly. "There's nothing wrong with not wanting to jump into someone's bed after only knowing them two days."

And Yuuri seems to take it the way Victor means it – he laughs. His entire body shakes with it, and even Victor can't help it when his chuckles infect him as well. The moment he starts laughing, Yuuri wraps his arms around him and pushes them both into the grass. Even if it's Victor's back that hits the ground first, he would never complain.

Not when his arms are full of a laughing Yuuri, his heart is full of happiness and hope, and his lungs are full with rose-scented smell of new, budding love.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop! there we go! the start of a new adventure!  
> I'm planning to start editing ch2 today and get it done tomorrow, so I can post sometime mid-week, but I don't know if it will be possible with my job eating up all my time, so pls bear it in mind and if the chapter doesn't show up on wednesday, it will FOR SURE be up on next saturday ^u^)b  
> thank you so much for reading, and pls let me know what you think? ❤️
> 
> and make sure to go give ichka your love!!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after I posted the last chapter, I remembered that I didn't link yall to the wonderful music that always accompanies the gathering of roses, so I'll do it now and yall should open it and read the fic to the sound of the lovely tune of softly plucking of strings ❤️
> 
> [listen HERE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nadKdAtXfU&t=889s)

 

 

 

They must look like idiots, sleeping under a tree in a park, but when Victor wakes up to Yuuri's face right next to him, he can't find in himself even an ounce of shame. The world… the world is just a good place that day.

And it only gets better when gentle winds ruffleYuuri's hair, and tangle in the leaves of the Berrywhite Tree above their heads, which rains pink leaves down on them and sends splatterings of sunspots onto Yuuri'ssleep-soft face. Truly, Victor thinks as he rests on his side, watching the rise and fall of Yuuri’s chest and the little breaths that make his lips tremble, is there anything more beautiful than this?

There is, it seems, and it's Yuuri who wakes up, sees him, and gives him a precious, sleepy smile that melts Victor's heart into a puddle of adoration within seconds.

"Good morning," Yuuri yawns sweetly into his own elbow. His nose scrunches when he does so, and Victor gets a ridiculous urge to kiss it.He resists with difficulty, but all that hardship is soon forgotten when Yuuri’s eyes find him again: warm and soft, and so, so beautiful.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Victor chirps, unable to hold back. "Today's the big day for us. How do you feel?"

Yuuri only groans in reply. Victor laughs.

"It won't be that bad, I promise," he adds. "And, if that makes things any better, we'll have lots of free time between the breedings, which means lots of time for impromptu dates!" When Yuuri doesn't reply to that either, Victor leans a little bit closer to ask: "Or did you change your mind?"

Yuuri, who has closed his eyes again, opens them and looks straight at him. His gaze is still blurred with sleep, but it's also equally tender. Tender enough to send Victor's heart into a loving fit.

"I didn't," Yuuri admits in a voice that is just as darling. "Did you?"

"Never," Victor gives back, smiling.

And because restraint has never been one of his strong suits, he dips his neck and rests a quick kiss in Yuuri's hair. It makes Yuuri blush, of course it does. And it's all the more precious for it. Sweet happiness churns in Victor's chest, bright and warm like the morning sun.

"We should probably get going if we want to start breeding today," he says, sitting up. "Do you want me to walk you back to your inn?"

"No, it's fine. I think I remember the way." Yuuri shakes his head, but cringes as soon as he does that. Weakly, he lifts a hand to press against his head. "We shouldn't have gone through that second bottle…"

He's right, and they probably shouldn't have, but Victor is glad they did. He's glad, because now he can say things like "If you promise to do your best at the breeding, I will offer you a shoulder to nap on during the waiting time," with no shame at all. He does it next, and watches Yuuri's face turn pink again, but it's not as deep a blush as he's seen before.

"I guess I will take you up on that," Yuuri says, much to Victor's joy.

"Please do!"

Yuuri's little smile brings one to Victor's face as well, but no matter how sweet the moment is, they both know they have to move. So, reluctantly, Victor picks himself up and stands, offering Yuuri a hand up. They walk together to the portal, which is right on the way to the inn. Victor lingers a step away, unwilling to part, but Yuuri takes a step back when it becomes obvious that Victor is in no hurry to leave.

"See you in a bit then?" Yuuri asks as he takes another step, and before he knows it, as if pulled by invisible thread, Victor takes a step too – closer to Yuuri. "Victor, you need to go."

"But I don't want to go," Victor whines. He takes another step and clings to Yuuri, who – as he expected – fits so perfectly in his arms that Victor never wants to let go. "Don't make me go, Yuuri…"

"You're ridiculous, did you know that?" Yuuri asks, but the hand he rests on Victor's arm tells a different story. "You can come along with me, of course, but don't you have things of your own to prepare or, I don't know, _something?_ "

"You're right, you're right." Victor sighs. "I still don't like it, though."

"We make do with what we have," Yuuri tells him simply. And then, much to Victor's surprise, he kisses his cheek. "So make do with that."

Taken off guard, caught, and absolutely smitten, Victor grins. He presses a hand to the cheek Yuuri's lips just touched, where a warmth that runs straight to his heart lingers still.

"Yuuri," he croons, loving the way Yuuri turns his head away, even if his ears are alreadydipped crimson. "You're too sweet!"

"Just go," Yuuri grumbles, but it's more embarrassment than anger, and Victor giggles.

He presses a quick kiss to Yuuri's cheek, too, and then dances away towards the portal. He waves excitedly at Yuuri right before the magic whisks him away. The last thing he sees is Yuuri's surprisingly fond smile. And that, that is the memory that keeps him grinning when he showers, when he dresses, and when he once again steps into a portal to meet Yuuri – and then, it’s that memory that has him grin even wider still, because soon he’ll see him again.

Nothing could ever take this joy away.

 

 

 

 

"This is Alisa," Victor introduces the Love dragon. A beautiful female with heart-shaped wings, horns and tail, who nuzzles her nose into Victor's hand until he tenderly rubs the little heart on her forehead. "She's a spoiled little thing, but she's already carried so many eggs for us that she has every right to be treated like a princess. Right, 'lisa? Yes, yes, you do!"

The heart-ended tail sways lightly, and Victor grins. He turns to Yuuri, finding him already smiling as well.

"Come on, let her get your scent first," Victor encourages.

Yuuri does as directed, but Alisa isn't interested in him one bit. From the moment she sees Raths behind Yuuri's back, it's like everything else has stopped existing around them. Victor finds himself terribly amused by it, because isn't that just what happened to him less than 3 days ago?

"Someone sure is smitten," he jokes.

"Could be a good sign," Yuuri replies, sounding just as pleased. "Maybe we can get a Smitten dragon on first try."

"Now that, that would be something," Victor agrees, eyes bright. "Let's try it!"

So they do.

Raths and Alisa are already circling each other curiously when Victor sets the magic of the breeding cave. Yuuri directs it towards the crystals that make up the roof of the lair inside the cave, which helps with breeding odds. The pink stones glow for a moment once the procedure is done.

Victor and Yuuri both turn around just at the right time to see Raths and Alisa rub horns sweetly as a timer for this session pops above their heads.

6:23:59, it reads. And then the seconds start ticking down.

"Well, that's to be expected from a new pair," Victor says.

"I'm sorry," Yuuri offers. He sounds tired, almost as if he expected this to happen. "It's probably because I said all that before. I got too cocky and–"

"What? Not at all!" Victor injects, slightly offended. "Yuuri, you did nothing wrong. We were just joking around, and sure, it would be nice if we got Smitten on first try, but I wasn't really expecting it of you. Please," he says as he abandons the magic station in order to take Yuuri's hands in his own, "don't put the blame on yourself when it isn't your fault at all. We have time to get this done. Not everything needs to be spectacular on the first try."

"But you…" Yuuri bites his lip, but he doesn't pull his hands away. "You could have done it."

"Maybe," Victor agrees. "But maybe not." And when Yuuri looks up at him, questions in his eyes, Victor sighs, and admits: "I haven't been getting any good results this event. If there's anyone to blame for this, it's probably me."

"What? No way! You didn't do anything wrong–"

"And neither did you," Victor points out, then smiles. "Let's just wait and try again later, okay?"

Yuuri's nod comes hesitant, but he doesn't protest when Victor pulls him towards the meadows of flowers that spread around the cave. Out far, the treat farms grow dragon food, and the air is clearer here than on the other islands, with maybe the Air island being the only exception. Here, though, the air smells of spring even though it's only the beginning of March. Flowers bloom, dragon feed grows in various shapes and colours, and birds chirp sweetly in the trees as they walk towards Victor's favourite waiting spot – the little hill where the oken orchard hides a swimming hole between its shade.

"This is lovely," Yuuri praises when Victor proudly leads him into the trees. "Do you come here often?"

"When the wait is this short? Always," Victor grins. "It's nice to take a dip as well, if you feel like it."

"Maybe another time," Yuuri declines, but the pink of his face is already reward enough to Victor, who can't chase a smile away from his lips.

Another time, after all, is not a no.

 

 

 

 

Six hours is a lot of time, it could seem, but to Victor it passes in a blink of an eye. One moment he rests on the grass with Yuuri, who is using his shoulder as a pillow and snores adorable little breaths, and the next he's awakened by the alarm he set with magic to ten minutes before the egg reveal. The sun has managed to cross almost the entire sky, and Victor yawns, already certain that tonight he will probably have trouble sleeping.  

In the end it was well worth it, though. Napping with Yuuri will always be worth it, he's sure.

Once they wash their faces in the pond water, which is as clear as the sky above them, they make their way back to the breeding cave. Just in time, too, because the big timer clock above the magic stones is counting down the last minute.

With bated breath, Victor takes Yuuri's hand and locks their fingers together. Yuuri squeezes them once, and lets them stay like that, as enraptured in the wait as Victor is.

And then, then it's over.

Instead of feeling disappointed, Victor squeezes Yuuri's hand and smiles.

"Let's try again!"

 

 

 

 

It's a Cuddlewing that they breed next, and it's an adorable little thing that snuggles into Yuuri's side at all times. Victor's heart is instantly stolen the moment the precious darling hatches from the egg, which takes almost 23h to breed and another 28h to incubate. The moment Victor noticed the heart-shaped markings on the egg, though, he splurged gems on the incubation time, much to Yuuri's amusement.

"You just want someone to cuddle with, admit it," Yuuri teases as they put Raths and Alisa through another breeding session. This one is shorter, thankfully, but it's still going to last fourteen hours, and Victor has already decided to take Yuuri sightseeing in the meanwhile.

"I won't deny it. I love cuddling," Victor says, grinning. "But I also want to cuddle with you, so what do you say? Just the three of us, tonight, and a field of dragon snaps?"

He winks, Yuuri blushes, and the world is a good, good place.

 

 

 

 

"We already have one of those," Victor says as he transfers the Rose dragon egg to the nursery. "A pair of dragons, male and female, and a pedestal."

"Rift version, too?" Yuuri asks.

"That too, yes," Victor nods.

And then he hums. With a light hand, he trades games for the instant incubation magic and, once done, he picks up the egg. Rose dragon eggs are spectacular gifts, and they sell pretty well because of that. Victor has never been a cheap lover and he doesn't plan to be one now, so he doesn't hesitate to give the egg to Yuuri.

"For you," he says, smiling sweetly.  

Yuuri makes a sound at the back of his throat and backs away from the egg as if it was a grown dragon already. "What? No! I can't just take it."

"But I'm giving it to you," Victor pouts.

"But _why_ are you giving it to me?" Yuuri insists. "You could sell it and get a return on those gems, and–"

"But I want to give it to _you_ ," Victor tells him again. "A present. For you." He steps closer, and this time Yuuri doesn't run away. "A rose for a boy who blushes like one."

Just as he says it, Yuuri's cheeks turn a rosy pink. Despite that, he accepts the egg when Victor offers it again, and cradles it against his chest.

"Thank you,"Yuuri says softly. "I promise I will cherish it."

And Victor knows that he will cherish the small, precious smile Yuuri gives him after far, far more.

 

 

 

 

"Makkachin?" Yuuri asks while they feed Raths and Alisa before putting them through another breeding session. "That's an odd name for a dragon."

"Not odd! Special!" Victor corrects. "And he's the most precious darling you've ever met, I swear!"

"I haven't, actually," Yuuri points out, and when Victor looks at him, he smiles. "I haven't met him, so how can I tell?"

Eyes sparkling, Victor answers Yuuri's grin with one of his own.

"Then I must introduce you! Oh, why didn't I think of it sooner? Of course you have to meet Makka!" He hugs Yuuri with one arm, excited. "You'll love him, I promise!"

The way Yuuri smiles at him, fond and sweet, is better than any wine. Victor feels drunk on just that alone, but when Yuuri wraps his arm around Victor's waist, too, it's almost enough to make Victor walk on cloud nine.

"I'm sure I will," Yuuri says, and Victor soars.

In a flurry of excitement, they put Raths and Alisa into the breeding cave once more, and Victor barely even registers the 2:23:59 that blinks into existence above the pink stones. He grabs Yuuri's hand once it's all done and pulls him towards the portal almost at a run. The huge, huge smile on his face only sweetens when Yuuri laughs as he keeps up with his mad pace.

They jump into the portal, where Yuuri trips and falls into Victor's welcoming arms, and all is right, all is perfect, as they are whisked away onto the Rainbow island. Colours assault them when they appear in a glow of transit magic, but Victor can't turn away from the way Yuuri takes it in: with awe on his face, childish joy in his eyes, and love in the small smile on his lips.

Great Wizards of Old, Victor thinks not for the first time since they've met, he's beautiful.

Impulsively, Victor lifts a hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind Yuuri's ear, which gains him Yuuri's attention, and–

"You're so beautiful," Victor tells him, breathless at the force of it directed at him.

Yuuri's cheeks flush. "No, I'm not. You're the one who's beautiful."

The words seem to leave Yuuri’s mouth with little conscious effort will behind them, because once Yuuri realizes what he said his blush deepens, and widened eyes peer up at Victor in near panic. It's sweet, Victor thinks, so sweet, but whatever the reason for this worry he wants it gone as soon as possible.

"I– I didn't–"

Yuuri stumbles over his tongue, when Victor cuts him off with a sweet "Thank you," and a quick kiss to one of Yuuri's flushed cheeks. The tiny sound of embarrassment that Yuuri makes as he hides his face in his hands and turns away from Victor is far too adorable, so Victor doesn't feel all too bad when he wraps himself over Yuuri's back and nuzzles his cheek into soft black hair.

"You're unfair," Yuuri mumbles somewhere into his neck, and Victor only chuckles.

"You're the unfair one, my Yuuri! You're so cute, and so pretty, and so sweet, and..." Yuuri makes a little sound again, and Victor trails off, giggling. "Fine, fine, I won't say more. Come on, let's go meet Makka!"

He offers Yuuri a hand, and it pleases him greatly when Yuuri takes it and links their fingers together without hesitation. It's a sign, one of many, that through the days they have spent together – almost a week now, Victor can't believe how quickly the time has flown by – Yuuri has slowly began to open up to him and accept Victor's honest, unabashed adoration.

With a grin, Victor steps off the portal and lifts Yuuri's hand to his lips, resting a kiss on the back of it. And then he pulls a blushing Yuuri down, and leads him past the many rainbow habitats towards where he knows Makkachin loves sunbathing his colourful scales.

"There," he finally says, stopping at the sight of Makkachin spread on his back under a rainbow that starts from a leprechaun's cauldron and ends somewhere within the fluffy clouds that surround the island. "That's my little sweetheart."

"Well, doesn't he look comfortable," Yuuri says, a smile in his voice. "Maybe we shouldn't disturb him right now?"

"Nonsense," Victor objects. "Just you wait till he hears us. There will be no–"

He doesn't get to finish. Makka's long tail snaps all of a sudden, and like a flash of rainbow-coloured lightning, he's on his feet within a second. He spots Victor, and that's that. It doesn't take long before Victor is falling back under the weight of a fully grown Rainbow dragon, who nuzzles into his face and chest, and licks him all over with his long tongue.

Victor laughs, hopeless against it, and cuddles his best friend with all the love that is showered down on him. Above Makka's horns he can see Yuuri smiling down on them. Truly, Victor thinks, is there anything more wonderful than having your most important people together like this?

"Makka... Makka, stop!" he laughs when he's already fully covered in dragon drool. "Enough, you big noodle! Let me up… let me up, I brought someone for you to meet!"

That, finally, gets Makkachin's attention. He stops his quest to turn Victor into a slime and turns his head towards Yuuri. Victor pushes himself up to guide their first meeting, but before he can, Yuuri smiles and offers Makka a hand to sniff.

"Hello, Makkachin," he greets, smiling. "I'm Yuuri."

Makka cocks his head at him, but takes a little whiff of his scent. And then, because he's always been unpredictable just like Victor, he leaps out of Victor's arms and tackles Yuuri down, slobbering him all over as if to make them match. Victor can't help laughing at that, too, in perfect symphony to Yuuri's own stifled chuckles.

"Gross," Yuuri decides when Victor finally gets himself together and pulls Makka off of him. He's smiling as he says it, though, so Victor only grins back.

"Isn't he just precious?" he asks.

"He is," Yuuri agrees, scratching the warm scales between Makkachin's shoulder blades. He smiles when he looks up at Victor, and teases: "And I see why you like him so much. He's just like you, but in a dragon form."

What he says is nothing special, to be quite honest, but something in Victor's heart reacts to it with an overwhelming warmth. There's so much of it that all of a sudden Victor feels choked. His eyes tear up and he swallows hard, yet the smile doesn't want to get off his face.

"Does that mean you think me precious?"

Yuuri looks caught onlyfor a second before his cheeks colour. Even then, though, he doesn't look like he wants to take the words back.

"I do," he replies quietly, and meets Victor's eyes.

There is little that Victor himself gets embarrassed by, far less he feels shy about, but in the moment – faced with Yuuri's straightforward gaze – he needs to look away. Warmth blossoms in his heart, heats up his cheeks, melts tears into his eyes.

And Victor holds onto it with all his might. Just like he plans to hold onto Yuuri – desperately, and forever.

 

 

 

 

A week later, third week into the event, and past countless of failed breedings, the timer above the pink stones of the breeding cave shows: 28:59:59.

"Oh!" Yuuri gives.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Victor grins.

"I don't know, are you?" Yuuri grins back. "I'm thinking we finally hit the jackpot."

"A Sweetheart, at last!"

Victor jumps over to hug Yuuri, who catches him with ease. It's been two weeks, two wonderful weeks of them spending every waking moment together, and it shows in the little things. The way Yuuri blushes less, the way he smiles more often, more openly. Also, in the way he's always ready to return Victor's hugs whenever he gives them – and he gives them a lot, because how can he hold back?

The only thing, the one thing that Victor still hasn't tried is kissing Yuuri. But that, well… there needs to be a certain kind of mood for that, he thinks. A spectacular setting of romantic heights, because Yuuri deserves nothing but the best, and Victor will be damned if he gives him anything less.

Something of his thoughts must show on his face, since Yuuri gives him a curious look.

"What is it?" he asks.

"Nothing you should worry about," Victor chirps and drops a kiss to Yuuri's nose.

Soon, he makes a promise to his sweetly hoping heart. Soon he will make his move.

 

 

 

 

The ‘soon’ he plans for doesn't happen as soon as he hopes, however. The twenty-nine hours pass in a flash, like all the time he spends with Yuuri does. Victor takes Yuuri to the market, feeds him treats, and plans, plans and plans… All to make it perfect, all to make it worthy of Yuuri's smile and the warmth of his eyes. He thinks to make a move when the dragon hatches, in the moment of joy and elation: a crowning of their joint achievement.

His daydreams end up being daydreams only, because the moment the egg is transferred to the nursery and they spot it among the others under Gaia's beautiful wings… it becomes clear that it isn't a Sweetheart egg.

"Smitten," Yuuri recognizes the green colour of the egg.

Victor wants to laugh and pout at the same time. "Ah, we forgot they have the same breeding time, didn't we?"

Yuuri rubs at his neck in embarrassment. "Good news is that you still don't have a Smitten dragon, right? At least that's something."

"True," Victor agrees. "But I guess it's only right that we bred Smitten first, because from the very moment I saw you I was instantly smitten with you."

He winks, and Yuuri blushes, and they move on to start yet another breeding. Still, Victor remains kiss-less, and however upsetting that might be, he cannot truly mind it when Yuuri is there to smile at him, squeeze his hand, and say: "Let's try again."

 

 

 

 

There is about twelve more hours on the timer, the magic clock tells them, so after dinner Victor walks Yuuri back to his room at the inn. He lingers, as does Yuuri now, neither willing to turn away first. Yuuri's hand is warm in Victor's, a reminder of what the past weeks have been: a bright, blissful blessing in a life that Victor has all but lost hope for. And that, that only makes it harder to part.

"Do you… do you want to come up?" Yuuri asks, his fingers twitching in Victor's hand. "It isn't late yet, so I thought that maybe–"

"I'd love to," Victor breathes. He steps closer, almost enough to press Yuuri's hand to his chest, where his heart thrums against his ribs sweetly. "Even the entire night, if you want."

Yuuri doesn't say anything, but the way he blushes tells Victor enough. Inside, Yuuri makes them some tea, just to have something to do with himself. Victor can see it clear as day. He's nervous, that's for sure. But why would Yuuri suddenly be nervous around him, Victor cannot tell. Or, he doesn't dare hope. Because if he does, if he allows that sliver of excitement that's churning in his heart to grow, then he will be unable to think of anything other than Yuuri's lips, and that–

"–tor? Victor!"

He snaps out of his thoughts, blushing when he feels Yuuri's hand on his cheek. Yuuri's close, and his beautiful eyes look at Victor with worry, while a tiny wrinkle between his eyebrows makes him look so kissable that Victor has to blink forcefully to get rid of the vision that appears before his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Yuuri asks, moving his hand from Victor's cheek to his forehead as if to check his temperature. "You seem a little out of it. And your face is warm. Are you getting sick?"

Victor clears his throat, blushing harder. "No, I'm, I think I'm fine. Maybe a little tired."

"Ah," Yuuri smiles, full of apologetic beauty. "I probably shouldn't keep you up for long then. You need to rest or you'll get sick for real. I'd feel awful if it was because of me."

He retracts his hand, but Victor chases after it and puts it back to his cheek. He sighs happily then, smiling as he says: "Oh, Yuuri. I've been sick since the day we meet... lovesick."

He winks, and Yuuri blushes, and–

The whistle of the kettle Yuuri has put on the fireplace startles them both. Yuuri jumps to his feet to finish making their tea, and Victor sits there, sulking. He's still sulking when Yuuri comes back and sets a cup of delightfully smelling tea before him.

"Why the long face?" Yuuri asks.

"Iwanttokissyou," Victor mumbles so softly that Yuuri must have not heard him, because he simply cocks his head to the side, looking at Victor for answers. "It's nothing," Victor explains with a sigh. "Don't worry about it."

"Doesn't look like nothing when you're pouting," Yuuri replies. "Victor, you… you know you can tell me, whatever it is, right? I can't promise to help if it's beyond my power, but I can always listen?"

"How are you so lovely?" Victor complains, and slumps onto the table. "You're so unfair, my Yuuri."

"How's that unfair? I just want to help, if I can," Yuuri says, and smiles when Victor looks at him. "So? Will you tell me?"

Victor considers him for a moment, before he gives in. "I don't know if I should. I promised to myself to wait until you mention it first, but…"

"Mention what?" Yuuri asks, sipping on his tea.

Victor sighs again, this time like the lovesick fool he is.

"I want to kiss you."

Yuuri chokes on his tea as if on cue, and maybe Victor does feel a little guilty when he begins to cough like he wants to spit out his lungs, but… maybe he also feels a little satisfied that he isn't the only one suffering right now.

"You… what?" Yuuri finally rasps out. There are tears in his eyes from coughing, which he doesn't even bother to wipe away when he turns his attention to Victor. "How long have you…?"

"Oh, Yuuri," Victor clicks his tongue. "How long isn't what matters here. What matters is that I'm dying to kiss you and I can't find the right time to do it, because something always gets in the way, and I want it to be special! I want it to be something you will remember forever! Something you could tell–"

 _–our children about_ , Victor wants to say, but the words die on his lips when Yuuri leans over and seals them with his own.

He backs away sooner than Victor would like. After all, he's waited this long, and of course he'd wait far longer if that's what Yuuri wanted, but to think that he had it and it lasted not even a second? As far as first kisses go, Victor feels absolutely underwhelmed, but also… but also he feels utterly overwhelmed, too.

Yuuri, the sneaky bastard, caught him unawares and now, now he has the audacity to sit back in his chair, blushing like that, and voiding Victor's eyes? It's mean, it's beyond mean.

And Victor loves it.

"Yuuri…" he starts in a voice so smitten that he doesn't think he's ever heard himself like that, but in the moment it hardly matters. Yuuri, _Yuuri_ is all that matters.

"You should've told me earlier," Yuuri tells him without ever looking his way. "I wanted to do this for a long while, too."

"What?" Victor breathes. "You mean we could've been kissing _for days_ if I told you I want to? Yuuri, you–"

"Don't say it."

Yuuri bites his lip, the lip that was just pressed against Victor's, and Victor can't help but groan in want. That little noise is what makes Yuuri turn his head towards him. And Victor sees, oh, he sees the effect it had on Yuuri, and he sees what it did to him in the reflection of the fire burning in Yuuri's eyes, too.

"In fact," Yuuri says, while Victor loses himself in his gorgeous eyes, "don't say anything. At all."

Breath stuck in his throat, heart frozen with want, Victor feels as if his veins filled with lava and his belly has turned into a roaring volcano that wants to drown him in flames.

So he doesn't say anything. But when he moves, Yuuri meets him halfway, and neither of them speak much for the rest of the night.

 

 

 

 

The next Aura they breed is a Stoneheart, which is something that Yubileyny could definitely use. Yuuri's face is far less excited about it than Victor would like it to be. He doesn't ask, however, and Yuuri doesn't say anything either. In silence, they set up another breeding session, but the air between them somehow grows heavy, and that worries Victor more than the fact that in a little over a week the event will come to an end.

He's been trying not to think of the moment Yuuri will inevitably have to return back home. The days that seem to pass faster and faster still remain rose-tinted: sweet with affection and tender with love. Those brief moments when reality sinks in, though… Those are bleak and monochrome, and Victor pushes them as far away from his thoughts as he possibly can.

He can't get rid of all of them, however. Especially not when something seems to weigh on Yuuri's mind, as well.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Victor asks one night when they cuddle in bed and Yuuri's eyes just stubbornly remain open, even though the sky has already been dark for hours. "You know you can talk to me, yes?"

"It's just…"

Yuuri sighs. He buries his face in Victor's neck, but the moment Victor moves to tighten his arms around him, Yuuri breaks free and turns on his side – away from Victor.

"You have a Stoneheart now. You don't need Raths to co-op anymore."

He doesn't say it with words, but Victor hears what he truly wants to say anyway: You don't need _me_ anymore. A cutting reply is quick on his tongue, but he holds it back. This is Yuuri, after all. Just because he's speaking nonsense doesn't mean Victor has to be cruel about it.

"It doesn't matter," Victor says then, resting a gentle hand on Yuuri's back. "Raths and Alisa are a better match and they already have experience breeding together. And, even if that wasn't the case," Victor shifts closer to wrap his arm around Yuuri and snuggle into him from behind, "I would never want you to leave because of that."

Yuuri stiffens a little under his touch, and Victor realizes his mistake.

"I would never want you to leave, period," he corrects himself. "Yuuri, I... I've been thinking. About when the event is over and you–"

"Don't say it," Yuuri whispers.

"But what are we going to do?" Victor asks. "I know it's only been a few weeks, but I don't want to be apart from you. Ever. So if there's a chance that you could stay, or, or, I don't know, maybe I could come with you? Would you want that?"

"There's still time until the event is over," Yuuri replies, which is no reply at all, Victor thinks. "Let's wait until then to decide."

What he says doesn't sound like a no, but somehow, deep in his heart, it feels like it to Victor. He peels himself off of Yuuri's back and turns on his side as well. It's cold, the distance that suddenly blooms between them. Victor shivers against it, his bare skin as vulnerable to it as his heart has always been, yet he refuses to seek Yuuri's warmth when he stubbornly stays on the other side of the bed.

There, in the lonely darkness of night, Victor closes his eyes, but no sleep comes to him that night.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also, yes, this is about to get semi angsty. I'm sorry?  
> //sweats


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

 

"How's the progress?" Yakov asks when Victor drops by the office after another Melancholy dragon hatches from the pile of fails. "I've got the reports, but I want to hear it from you."

"We're still working on it, you know?" Victor defends. "There's time until the event ends. And we've already gotten a Smitten and a Stoneheart from the new Auras, so that's something."

Victor doesn't really want to talk about it. Doesn't want to think about it. Or about how in a little over a week Yuuri will have to go back to his own park and maybe they will never see each other again.

He squeezes his eyes shut to block out the thoughts, but they circle in his mind like a murder of crows, ready to pick at his heart until there's nothing left.

"Two out of planned four, huh?" Yakov grunts. "Not what you promised us."

"It is what it is," Victor says with a shrug that suggests he cares far less about the matter than he actually does.

Silence fills the office. It seems like even Yakov doesn't know what to say to Victor when he's like that, and honestly, Victor doesn't blame him. It's been… a long while since he allowed anyone to deal with his true emotions this way. This openly. Somehow, though, Victor can't bring himself to care at the moment. His own pain seems to overshadow all else.

"Are you doing okay, Vitya?"

The question is as unexpected as the way it is said: almost softly, as if cautiously. And Victor, for all his lack of care, feels something inside him melt into the old habits – which aren’t entirely that old, if he thinks about it.

He puts a smile on his face, closes his eyes, and pretends to be what he isn't.

"What do you mean, Yakov? Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

The look Yakov gives him is tired, but he doesn't press the issue. "The deal you made with Lilia… if you can't deliver the other two Auras we're still missing, we won't go through with it. You know that, don't you?"

"It's fine, I'm telling you," Victor insists again. "There's still a week left, and we've been breeding Aura fails for a week now, too. We'll hit the mark soon, I'm sure, so you better start writing out the deed for me."

"We'll see about that when you breed the Spritely and the Sweetheart," Yakov decides, and that's that.

When Victor leaves his office, the fake smile is still plastered to his face as if he forgot to take it off, and once he remembers… he leaves it there for good measure. After all, it's not like Yuuri will notice the difference when no one else can, right?

 

 

 

 

"Yuuri, I was wondering," Victor starts while they're giving Raths and Alisa a thorough wash in the swimming hole out in the orchard, "would it be okay with you if I used the Stoneheart we bred to try for the Spritely on the side? It's just that the time is running out and I'd really like to give it a go, but with Raths and Alisa it'd be impossible, because the Spritely is–"

"–half Olympus. Yes, I know."

Yuuri stops trying to reach Raths' back with the washcloth and huffs. He pushes his hair back, wet already as it is, and when he turns, Victor notices that his white shirt is just as wet as his hair – and it's sticking to his skin in ways that suddenly make all of Victor's thoughts and worries so very unimportant.

"It's fine, Victor," Yuuri says. "I get it. Two breedingsoffer better chances at getting either of the dragons. You should go for it."

He offers Victor a smile, a beautiful thing that Victor's heart swoons at. He sighs quietly to himself, torn between his wants and his musts.

Ever since that night when Victor asked about their future, something has been slowly chipping away at them, as if taking bits and pieces of the easy understanding they had before into a chasm that grew between them overnight. It weighs on Victor every time he steals a kiss from Yuuri, and it hurts even more every time he catches Yuuri in a half aborted gesture when he reaches for Victor's hand. It's like… it feels like they are drifting apart despite fighting to stay connected.  

Alisa must feel the change in his emotions, because she nudges at his shoulder with her big head. She chirps at him until Victor has no choice but to smile.

"I'm fine, darling," he tells her. "Peachy."

She snorts a cloud of pink smoke in his face, and Victor coughs, laughing. As if to prove she knows more than Victor thinks, she nudges him again, harder. And when Victor turns the way she wants him, he sees what she means: Yuuri, with his shoulders slumped and arm pressed to Raths' side so that he can rest his forehead against it.

He makes such a lonely, sad picture that Victor takes a step without even thinking. Alisa croons at him softly in clear approval, so Victor takes another step. And then he just walks up straight to Yuuri and hugs him from behind, burying his face in his shoulder. Yuuri stiffens under his touch for a brief moment, but he relaxes before Victor can let go.

"Yuuri," Victor starts, but no words seem to come after that. How can he make his feelings clear? How can he tell Yuuri the magnitude of all that he means to him?

"Yes?"

How can Victor make him see to the very depths of his heart and show him all his wants and wishes?

"I…" he breathes, but the rest of it doesn't come.

In fact, nothing else comes, because Victor's attention is diverted by a tiny sniffle that doesn't come from him. And if it doesn't come from him, then it must–

Gently, Victor peels himself off of Yuuri and tugs him by the elbow until he can see Yuuri's tear-filled eyes and his reddened cheeks. If a heart breaking could make a sound, it would sound like the hitching breath Yuuri takes before he lifts his hands to wipe at his eyes.

"It's nothing," he quickly says, before Victor even thinks to ask. "I'm fine. Don't worry about this."

How? How can he not–

"Yuuri," Victor admonishes softly, but Yuuri simply shakes his head.

"It's fine, okay?" Yuuri, the beautiful stubborn creature he is, sniffles. "You should go breed for the Spritely, and I will take care of the next breeding with Raths and Alisa. Maybe that way you'll fill your quota."

Frowning, Victor lifts a hand to Yuuri's cheek, but Yuuri avoids his touch. Victor drops his hand back to his side, refusing to allow this rejection to affect him now – now when it's clearly not the time for him to wallow in it. This, after all, is not about him.

"Yuuri, no," Victor says. "I didn't mean to say that I will be prioritizing the other breeding. I just meant that the chances are better. If we don't get the other two dragons then I promise I will take all responsibility for it, you needn't worry."

"That's not what I was–" Yuuri stops when his voice breaks, and angrily turns away. "You should just go, Victor. I can bring Raths and Alisa back."

He clearly doesn't want to talk further, but Victor just can't let this go like that.

"I'm not leaving you. Especially not when you're crying. I– I admit that I'm not the best when people cry in front of me, but I… I don't know." Victor runs a nervous hand through his hair, without a care of how much he's messing it up. It's not important now. What is, is Yuuri, and he’s crying, and–

"Should I just kiss you or something?"

The sound Yuuri makes is a thing between choking and laughing, and in the moment Victor can't figure out which. He sees that it's neither when Yuuri turns his face back to him. The anger is meshed so tightly with desperation in his eyes that Victor doesn't know where one starts and the other begins. But more than that, he doesn't know what it is that Yuuri could be so upset about.

And then, and then he knows.

"Don't say things like that at such a time!" Yuuri barks at him. "And don't say that you'll take the blame for my failure! You think that makes me happy?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean–" Victor stops himself, and starts again: "I just don't know what to say to–"

"Then don't say anything!" Yuuri snaps at him again. "You don't need to say anything, and you don't need to kiss me. You just… just... " Yuuri hiccups, and Victor sees fresh tears well in his eyes. "Just believe in me more than I do."

And when Victor gathers a still crying Yuuri in his arms, he vows to do just that. Forever.

 

 

 

 

It isn't an Aura dragon they breed after that, which comes as a surprise after almost two weeks of continuous Ire and Melancholy fails. The one Scorn they get, Victor sells without second thoughts. This time, though, when they get a duplicate Love dragon, he can't help but feel like it's a sign. And, as such, he needs to keep the egg. Or the dragon.

"Which do you think I should go with?" he asks Yuuri, who is stroking Gaia's beautiful feathers while they wait for the five hours of incubation time to pass.

Things between them have gotten better, a lot better. The question of what they will do after the event still hasn't been answered, but for now Victor chooses not to bother with it. The time will show them the way, and if it doesn't… well. He'll think about it then. For now, though, for now he's going to enjoy having Yuuri this close.

Which he does next when he tugs Yuuri toward him by the hand, and steals a kiss from Yuuri's smiling lips.

"You should do whatever your heart tells you to," Yuuri tells him, content to stay trapped within Victor's arms. He rests his hands on both sides of Victor's neck, and that, that feels like everything is right in the world once again. "What does it tell you, Victor?"

He hums. "It tells me to hatch it, and name it Victory. A little after myself, and a whole lot after us both, because our love will for sure be victorious against life's hardships."

In Yuuri's eyes he can see that what he meant to say has been understood. There are only five days of the event left. Only five days to breed a 29h dragon, and only five days until Yuuri's reason to stay will disappear.

But maybe, Victor hopes, he can be given another to replace it.

"We'll see," Yuuri gives, and kisses the corner of Victor's mouth. "But first, let's see if Victory is ready to come out of his shell, okay?"

 

 

 

 

Five weeks of intense dragon breeding. That's usually what Gardenia's Gathering of Roses looks like. In Victor's experience that is very much true, as well. Only this time around, for him, there is far less pressure on breeding, and more on spending as much time as he can with the the love of his life. It might have only been five weeks since they've met, but Victor is sure of Yuuri’s importance in his life – and so is his heart, which beats for Yuuri like it beats for no one else.

And Yuuri…Yuuri always blushes when Victor rests his hand against his heart to show him.

"Let me take you somewhere today," Victor asks, smiling sweetly and lifting Yuuri's hand to his lips.

"A date?" Yuuri asks back, cocking his head. "Is it smart, so close to the end of the event?"

"What else can we do while we wait for this breeding session to finish?" Victor shrugs. "There's still six hours on that clock, come on. Let me show you something beautiful."

"Fine, fine," Yuuri agrees, smiling. "As if I could say no."

He doesn't say no to a kiss Victor presses against his sweet lips, either, and elated, Victor pulls him towards a portal. Within all the time Yuuri spent at Yubileyny, Victor has shown him almost all the things there were to see. Except one. And today, today is the day he fixes that.

They warp away to the leisure island, where good times are a given. They've been here before when Victor was showing YuuriOrlon's Pavilion for a magic show, but this time Victor pulls Yuuri towards the other side of the island. There, almost on the very border of the island sits the thing Victor wanted to show his Yuuri: a beautiful butterfly pavilion with its stained-glass walls imbued with magic to attract more than just butterflies.

Yuuri's little gasp when Victor points it out is proof enough of that.

Through the fields of witch's mint that grows around it, they walk up to the doors. There are rarely people around, since most of the islanders have grown bored of this attraction, and Victor is all too happy to see that they are alone.

That gives him ample opportunity to look at Yuuri with all the love and adoration he can muster, after all.

"I didn't know there was such a place here," Yuuri whispers, squeezing Victor's hand.

"There aren't that many people interested in butterflies when they have dragons flying by their windows at all hours," Victor says, smiling. "It's still a pretty romantic spot, don't you think?"

Yuuri turns to him with a grin, and in his face Victor can see a playfulness he's come to adore.

"Romantic?" Yuuri asks. "Why would we want to come to a place like this then?"

His heart aflutter with joy, Victor steps closer to Yuuri. He wraps an arm around Yuuri's waist and pulls him hip to hip, grinning like a madman. There's just something so thrilling about joking around like this, something so freeing about playing along when Yuuri teases him. Victor can't truly resist it, much like he can't resist turning his head to press his lips against Yuuri's ear. The delightful shiver he gets in return only makes him more excited to whisper:

"I don't know, my Yuuri, what do you think we could do in a place like this? All alone, with no one but butterflies around… I might have a few ideas, mm."

He expects a blush from Yuuri, an embarrassed attempt at weaseling out. It isn't what happens. Instead of that, Yuuri tilts his head so that he can touch his lips to Victor's jaw, and slowly, tenderly he drags them down as he replies.

"I can think of a few myself," he murmurs, a silken caress against Victor's skin. "But I wouldn't mind hearing you out first. Maybe you can… convince me."

Weak and already trembling with want, Victor groans. He refuses to lose this strange, sensual competition, though. It started out of nowhere, but Victor would be a liar if he said he wasn't enjoying every second of it.

"I don't think what I have to say could be said in a public space, unless…" He licks his lips and runs his nose over the sensitive skin below Yuuri's ear. He feels him tremble, and he breathes a hot breath against the spot when he ends the thought: "...you're into that?"

Yuuri's breath hitches a little in the stillness of the pavilion. Victor has closed the door after them so they are all alone inside and the stained glass windows make it impossible to see the inside of it, but even still – the thought of kissing Yuuri senseless and touching him in all the places Victor has only dreamed of so far is more addictive than the mood-altering potions.

Frankly, Victor can already feel his body warm up with interest, and he's sure that Yuuri will feel it soon as well.

"And if I was?" Yuuri asks in a voice that is nothing but a sweet rasp. "If I was into that? If I wanted the whole world to know you're mine and I'm yours? What would you do?"

Yuuri's hand, which until now rested on the small of Victor's back, moves down a bit. It isn't enough to count as anything, but where it stops… Yuuri's fingers are splayed over Victor's butt in a way that feels like an incentive, like claiming, like all that Victor wanted.

And he loves it.

"I would spread you out on the field of witch's mint out there and kiss you until no one would have any doubts that we belong together," Victor breathes. "I would order a dragon troup to make a sign in the sky that would profess my love, I would–"

"Would you come with me?" Yuuri asks, suddenly, and Victor feels thrown. His silence must speak for him, because Yuuri asks again: "If I asked you, would you come with me to Hasetsu, Victor? No, I–" He pulls himself away from Victor's arms, but doesn't go anywhere. He simply takes Victor's hand and looks him right in the eyes, determined and bright. "Come with me, Victor!"

And Victor realizes what this is about.

"I– Yuuri, I–," he starts, but can't finish the thought from the excitement that suddenly bursts in his heart. "I'd love to! Yes!"

The moment he says it, however, Yuuri's face changes. His smile turns into something so sad that Victor feels dizzy at how fast the happiness he’s been feeling so vividly until now floats out of him as if it wasn’t there in the first place. One second, he’s breathless out of pure elation, because they will be together and they will be happy, and then the next… _this._

"I knew you'd say that," Yuuri says, and he sounds heartbroken. "You'd leave everything you've built here, all because I asked. I– I can't do this to you, Victor."

He pulls away.

"What? Yuuri, I don't understand." Victor reaches for him, but Yuuri steps away from his touch, shaking his head. "Why would you ask me that if you didn't mean it?"

"Because I needed to know the answer. I, I suspected that you'd say yes, and you did," Yuuri admits, and he looks… Victor hates it, but Yuuri looks close to crying. "You'd leave everything behind and move all across the world just for me? Do you… do you truly think that would make you happy? I don't think it would, Victor."

"I know it'd make me happy, Yuuri," Victor say gently. "Because I want to be with you. Now, and later, when the event is over. I want to be with you. Why wouldn't I leave everything here just to have a chance at happiness at your side?"

Yuuri's lips quirk in a smile that Victor for the first time finds ugly.

"And if you don't?" Yuuri asks. "If you don't find happiness with me? You'll hate me for taking you away from here. And even if we're together and we're happy, you can still grow to hate me for that. I can't do that to you… to us. I just can't."

"But you aren't taking me away at all! I'm saying yes, because I want to leave. I _want_ to go with you. Why can't you understand that I'm not just blindly saying yes, but agreeing for my own sake as well?" The Yuuri before him blurs slightly, and with surprise Victor notices that his own eyes have welled with tears. He doesn't bother wiping them away, though, and simply says: "I never knew you could be so selfish as to decide my own future for me."

Yuuri's mouth sets in a hard line. "Then I guess there is no reason for you to bother with someone so selfish anymore."

He turns away and Victor gasps at the sheer audacity of what he's doing.

"So what? You're just going to walk away like this? Because I disagree with you? Not only selfish, but also immature, I see," Victor snaps.

It isn't hard to see when Yuuri flinches. And that, instantly, fills Victor with deep regret.

"Yuuri, I'm sorry. I didn't mean–"

"You said what you were thinking, Victor. It's fine," Yuuri says, voice cold. Distant. "The event is almost over anyway, so just… let's end this."

 

 

 

 

Two days before the end of the event, the Stoneheart-Herald pair breeds a Spritely dragon. Yuuri looks at the egg like he's going to be sick: he's pale and his lips tremble briefly, before he seals them shut in a way so full of determination, that Victor finds it both endearing and painful all at once.

They don't speak about it, though. They don't speak of the conversation in the Butterfly Pavilion, either. The little of what they do speak is breeding the Sweetheart, and even that is stilted and tense. Making up seems like the best idea for them and the breeding, because the dragons seem to sense their unease as well, but Victor cannot bring himself to reach out to Yuuri first. He just… he can't understand it. Yuuri's reasoning is too ridiculous for him to grasp, not to mention accept.

Victor wants to be with him. Is it really so awful that he's willing to leave everything behind just to make it happen? Yuuri thinks so. And Vitor… Victor is too upset to even try to change his mind.

So they breed, and they breed, and they breed. Victor spends gems on cutting the time on breedings and incubation, but even when the resources begin to run low, they have no luck. Yakov allows him to activate the Perch of Kairos to help one last time, and the twenty-two hours they gain thanks to that are valuable, but bring no results where it matters.

And, then, suddenly, the timer over the pink stones of the breeding cave sets at 28:59:59.

 

 

 

 

"What if it's another Smitten?" Yuuri asks, voice soft as if he’s afraid of what he's saying.

"Then we'll be happy to have another," Victor says, confident. "Or maybe I'll ask Yakov to give it to you in thanks for all the effort you put into this event. It's the least we owe you."

"You don't owe me anything, Victor. I didn't do anything substantial enough to be owed. I didn't even do what we came here for, if it's another Smitten..."

Yuuri's smile is more self-deprecating than Victor has ever seen, and despite the sullenness between them, Victor speaks before he even thinks of it.

"It will be a Sweetheart, Yuuri," he says, offering him a smile. "Just wait and see. I have full trust in Raths and Alisa, and... I believe in you, too."

Yuuri once told him to do just that: to believe in him more than he believes in himself. And Victor has. Till the very last moment, he’ll still believe they can do this. Even if Yuuri wants nothing more to do with him after this event, even if he leaves without care for Victor's heart, Victor will still believe in him now, because Yuuri deserves it. He's a good breeder, as all the Auras they bred show, and he has a great potential for more. If only… If only he wasn't so ready to deny his skills…

Yuuri doesn't say anything back for a while, but Victor can see he's thinking. In the past few days, Victor has gotten pretty good at figuring out when Yuuri's mind took him on those unpleasant, Victor will bet, trips. The trick to it is the little wrinkle on Yuuri's forehead and the way he keeps chewing on the inside of his lip, subtly, but steadily.

And when he comes to a decision, it becomes all too clear, too. Like now – Yuuri sighs, and straightens his back, and looks forward with sad, stubborn eyes.

"We'll just have to wait and see, then," he replies. And that's what they do.

Almost thirty hours is a lot of time, especially when every second feels double from all the intangible tension that still lingers between them. Victor finds himself reaching for Yuuri's hand every now and then, reaching out to touch him, to apologise. But could an apology solve everything? What about an apology from Yuuri for taking Victor's choice away from him? For giving him hope, and then cruelly taking it away?

Every time Victor convinces himself to act, a part of him reminds him of Yuuri's words, and he holds back. It's difficult to go this long without touching Yuuri, without kissing him, laughing with him. And it hurts. Something deep inside Victor's heart has changed on that day, hasn't stopped weeping since. It's partially howling in pain, but he acknowledges the anger that's laced with it as well.

He's angry.

But even in anger, he still lov–

"Victor," Yuuri's voice snaps him out of his thoughts, and when he looks up, he sees Yuuri's face so very close he cannot help but hold his breath in expectation. "Are you… are you crying?"

He is, Victor realizes. He blinks and the tears fall down his cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Yuuri asks, moving his hand as if he wants to wipe his tears away, but like Victor before, he stops himself at the last moment. He draws back, and draws into himself, and only then he asks in a quiet voice: "Is it about what we decided?"

"We?" Victor repeats, incredulous. "What we? There was no we in that decision, Yuuri. You decided on it completely on your own, even when I told you what I would choose."

"Because you chose the wrong thing," Yuuri insists. The stubborn tick on his jaw tells Victor about his rising temper. "I can't let you make a mistake like that when I can help it. You deserve better than that."

"Better than you, you mean?"

Yuuri flinches when Victor points it out, but Victor simply goes on, too upset to care about Yuuri's hurt feelings. If Yuuri can hurt him with what he thinks would be best for Victor, then Victor will be bluntly honest with him in return. It is only fair, after all, to return kindness with kindness.

"Yes, maybe I do. Or maybe I don't. You aren't the one who decides it, Yuuri. _I am_. And I _chose_ you. I chose to follow you, because being with you made me the most free I have felt in a long while. Because breeding with you was a blast. Because I still want to be with you, and to work with you, for the weeks, months, years to come." His vision of Yuuri's frowning face blurs, and angrily, Victor wipes at his eyes. "I'm mad, Yuuri. I'm so mad at you. But I also–" he chokes on a sob, and swallows, before he can finish the thought. "I love you, Yuuri. But if you don't feel the same, or if you simply don't want me, be the man enough to tell me that outright. Don't hide behind your good intentions, because that can only hurt us both."

The timer above the breeding cave still reads 12:38:47, so Victor pushes himself off the grass and stands. He looks down at Yuuri one last time – at the deep wrinkle on his forehead, at the lip he's chewing on, at the light in his eyes – and he knows that he might not have changed anything by saying all that, but he still hopes. They say, after all, that hope always dies last.

Now, as he turns away, Victor prays for it not to die at all.

"I'll see you in twelve hours," he says, and walks away.

His heart hurts with every step he takes, but Victor doesn't slow down and he doesn't look back.

 

 

 

 

That night is a sleepless one for him. He sits up curled against Makkachin's side, but even his beloved friend's presence can't really help him feel any better. Makkachin must know how upset he truly is, because he keeps his head in Victor's lap and doesn't sleep a wink, either. Every now and then he bumps his snout into Victor's hand as if to remind him he's there, and Victor's eyes well up with tears all over again.

Why can't Yuuri understand that this is the only thing Victor wants as well? To be with him, stay with him, and simply take comfort in his presence. Is it truly so wrong of Victor to want it? Is it wrong to leave everything else behind and go for what makes his heart the happiest? No matter how long Victor thinks about it – and he thinks about it a lot – he can't find the answers that could give reason to the way Yuuri has handled it.

Once the morning breaks over the rainbows of the island, Victor checks the timer of the breeding, and sighs when it still shows a good five hours left. It's going to be a long day, he knows. The last day of the event is always busy, but this time Victor dreads it for a different reason. And it all has to do with Yuuri and the final decision he makes. That, Victor fears the most.

If Yuuri's choice doesn't change, if he still sticks by what he said before…Victor swallows hard. He isn't ready to hear it. He doubts he will ever be ready.

He still meets Yuuri at the cave, where they sit together in silence that is tense and awkward, and far too much. How can a Sweetheart breed in such an aura? Victor will find it incredibly ironic if they succeed at it, judging how their mood is anything but sweet.

"I thought about what you said," Yuuri starts about three hours into the wait. There's only two more left on the timer, but they feel as far away as the next day is.

"I'm glad you did," Victor allows, because maybe… maybe that means Yuuri seriously took his words to heart. And maybe, maybe he changed his mind, too.

"I thought about it," Yuuri repeats slowly, "and I still can't agree to this. You… Victor. I know you love breeding. It's so clear on your face every time the timer nears zero."

Yuuri gives him a little smile, which is sweet, but sad at the same time. The hope that lived in Victor's heart begins to wither.

"I would never forgive myself if I asked you to leave that behind for me, and you did it just to please me. You'd be miserable, I know it." Victor wants to protest, but Yuuri shakes his head at him the moment he opens his mouth. "Don't argue with me on this. You know it's true."

Grudgingly, Victor has to admit that maybe he'd miss breeding, yes, but in the face of the overwhelming happiness that being with Yuuri would give him it seems like a small price to pay. His thoughts must show on his face, because Yuuri's changes as well: his smile turns so pained that Victor reaches for his hand without thinking.

"You'd hate me for it," Yuuri says without giving him a chance to speak. "Maybe not anytime soon, but the longer you'd stay like that, the more you'd realize you miss it, and the more miserable you'd be. And you'd come to hate me for making you choose, and you'd hate me for letting you pick me over what you truly love."

"That's–" Victor starts, then catches Yuuri's eye and falls silent to let him finish.

Yuuri smiles in thanks, but his smile is as heartbroken as Victor feels, and truly – isn't it proof enough that Yuuri's feelings for Victor are just as strong? Isn't it enough for them to be together and battle all the hardships by each other's side?

"A lifetime is a long time to hate someone you’re supposed to love, Victor," Yuuri says softly, twining their fingers together. "And I think my heart would break if we ended up like that. So instead, I'm choosing to let you keep loving what you do. It's better this way."

"Better? What about breaking _my_ heart is better?"

Victor doesn't pull his hand out of Yuuri's though. In fact, he only holds it tighter.

"Can't you trust me, Yuuri? Can't you believe me, believe _in_ me more?” he pleads.“There is no way I could ever hate you for something I want to do of my own will. And even if I could, I wouldn't, because if I make this choice, it is my choice to bear, and it is my responsibility to see through." He looks at Yuuri, lifts a hand to his cheek, and begs: "Please, give me a chance to prove it."

But Yuuri closes his eyes as if to escape him, and turns his head away.

"I wish I could. But when I think about you, all I can see is your smile," Yuuri admits, looking close to tears. "Your smile when you breed a rare dragon. Your smile when you're excited for the next session. Your smile when you're holding a new egg." He shakes his head. "Victor, I can't–"

"You won't listen to anything I say, will you?" Victor interrupts him. He feels empty. Torn to shreds piece by piece, until nothing of his heart has remained intact to feel anything. "You won't change your mind no matter what?"

"I'm sorry," Yuuri whispers.

Victor lets go of his hand. "Then I guess this is it."

"Yeah, this is it. For what it's worth…" Victor can hear Yuuri swallow in the silence where his heartbeat should sing. "I love you, too."

Victor laughs, because that's the only thing he can do. A cold, bitter laugh that rings through his bones, echoes in the empty space between his ribs where once upon a time love nestled there in softness and warmth.

"Too bad you're a coward then," Victor says, smiling a fake smile that he knows doesn’t fool anyone. "Maybe if you weren't, we could've been happy together."

Yuuri's shocked and hurt face is the last thing Victor sees before he stands up and pointedly leaves to sit a distance away. It's cold, he knows, but after everything he no longer cares. Or maybe… maybe he just cares too much.

 

 

 

 

The Sweetheart dragon breeds from this session as if to spite them. Victor looks at the heart-marked egg in the nursery and he feels none of the joy that Yuuri broke his heart to protect. Instead, there is anger and there is hurt, and there's a wall of defiance that he can't break through, because he isn't even trying. He can't accept Yuuri's choice. It's touching that Yuuri is willing to go that far to make sure Victor doesn't lose what he loves most, but giving up on what could very well replace it… Victor hates it.

So, while the egg is hatching and the final hours of the event tick by, he sits by Makkachin's side, trying to come up with a plan. What can he do to change things? What can he do to make sure that Yuuri can't use that same excuse again?

It's as he's wrapped up in his thoughts, that the surface of the nearby pond ripples. Lilia's face,  glowing with the pale glow of water magic, appears on the pond.

"Victor," she says once she spots him, and her voice is sharp even in the depths of the water. "We need you in the office."

"Now?" Victor sighs before Lilia even replies, because she wouldn't go to all this trouble if she wanted him to come tomorrow. He rolls to the side, groaning. "Fine, I'll be there soon."

"Today, Victor," Lilia says, and disappears.

Grunting, Victor lifts a hand to rub at his eyes. The lack of sleep is starting to get to him, but it's only part of the problem. The event is ending, the Sweetheart has been bred, and Yuuri will be leaving tomorrow. There is too much to deal with, and only one of Victor to do so. In good shape, he could most likely handle it, but the way he is now – broken-hearted, angry, desperate – he feels like everything is too much.

He picks himself up off the grass, runs a hand through his messy hair to tidy it up a bit, and gives Makka a big hug. When he walks through the Rainbow island to the portal, he sees all the dragons he's bred, all the egg pedestals he set, and he knows that Yuuri is right: he loves breeding. But as much as he loves it, he can't help feeling like there's something he's missing here. Some sort of solution to all this drama, to all the heartbreak.

Magic whisks him away to the administrative island, where he passes by all the statues of the Wizards of the Old, and he wonders if they ever dealt with something like this. Choosing love over passion…

Victor stops when he sees Gardenia from afar. She's pushing her cart of roses, but she sees him too, and she waves. Maybe she could help him, Victor thinks, but before he can as much as take a step towards her, she disappears. It's useless to search for her then, she could be anywhere in the park. Victor sighs as this brief flicker of hope dies before it can even ignite.

"Took you long enough," Lilia says when Victor finally walks through the office door. "Sit."

Surprised to see Yakov there as well, Victor follows the order without any witty comment. He doesn't really feel like it, anyway.

"What's this about?" he asks.

"You bred the Sweetheart," Yakov says. "And the Spritely, and the Stoneheart, and the Smitten. All four Auras we were missing, and the four you said you would breed."

"Well, I am only the best breeder in Dragonvale," Victor says, without a hint of emotion in his voice. "This time, though, half the credit goes to Yuuri. I wouldn't be able to do it without him."

"Yes, Katsuki Yuri," Lilia nods. "He did well, didn't he?"

"As talented as expected of your recommendation," Victor agrees despite the ache in his heart.

"Would you work with him again?" Lilia asks, looking at Victor with such piercing eyes that he has to turn away. It feels like she can see into the very depths of his soul, and this time Victor is too weak to put up a mask over his hurts. "You two have been getting along, from what I hear."

"We have. I'm not sure we still are." Victor shifts his gaze to Yakov, who is looking through the window as if to avoid looking at him. It's odd. "For the good of the park I will, of course, work with him again. Is this what this is about?"

"No, not really."

Lilia goes back to her papers and pulls one from a folder. She hands it to Victor, who takes it and gingerly looks it over.

It's a deed to an island… in his name.

"Oh," he breathes.

He’d forgotten about the deal they made before the event. Everything that has happened since Yuuri arrived threw him into a whirlwind of roses and feelings, and he'd forgotten. But now, as he looks at the dotted line where his signature is needed to make the magic take hold, he remembers the agreement he had with Lilia.

If he's able to breed all four missing Auras, he will get his own island in the park. And this document is just that – the deed to his own island.

"You don't look too happy about it," Lilia remarks when Victor stays silent. "Changed your mind?"

"I–" Victor starts and stops.

Did he? Does he still want an island to care for, to run and be responsible for, when he can't seem to run his own life the way he wants to? It seems like everything that's been driving him before this event changed the moment he met Yuuri. He still wants the island, he still wants a fresh start, but now all those things he wants to do _with Yuuri at his side_ , because without him… without him life will never be the same.

"I don't think it's the right time for me," he decides, handing the deed back to Lilia. "Not yet."

Lilia's thin lips quirk in a smile, which she aims at Yakov's back as if they had a bet going. Truly, Victor wouldn’t put it past them.

"I thought so," she says.

"You did?Why?" Victor asks, not entirely sure he wants to know, but still curious enough to risk it.

"A fool could see how smitten you are with the boy, Vitya," she replies, softer this time. "It does not surprise me then that you reject this offer. Are you planning to leave with him?"

"We spoke about it, but he doesn't want to take me away from work," Victor says, unable to help the bitterness in his voice. "So no, I won't be leaving."

"Pity. I wanted to send you to Hasetsu for the duration of the next few events to help them out with breeding, since we didn't really get the twin dragons this time. But if you'd rather stay, then–"

"Wait! Wait just a second!" Victor sits up, suddenly dizzy by what Lilia’s words truly mean. "You’re saying that I could go with him and still… breed dragons?"

"Isn't that what cooperative breeding is for?"

Lilia lifts an eyebrow at him, as if she doesn't know what he means. And she does, she must. Victor knows she has to, because the gleam in her eye says it so clearly.

"And you'd be okay with me going?" Disbelief colours his voice breathless. "It's always been someone else. You've never asked me to go before."

"There's a first time for everything."

Head spinning, Victor turns to Yakov, who hasn't been looking at him at all. The reason is obvious now: he knew what Victor will choose, and he wasn't happy about it. He's always been like a father to Victor, his mentor ever since Victor began breeding at the young age of fifteen. They've been together for years, and even though they have never spoken of their feelings towards each other, the bond they share goes beyond words.

"Yakov… I want to go," Victor says towards the man's back.

"Then go, boy. No one is holding you back."

The words may seem gruff, but Victor knows the underlying meaning as well as he knows what the sudden clenching of his heart is trying to tell him. He stands up and walks to the window. Yakov doesn't turn to meet him, but when Victor wraps him in a hug from behind, he pats one of his arms. And it's enough.

It's more than enough.

"Thank you," Victor whispers. He turns to Lilia next. "Thank you for this opportunity. How long do you want me to stay?"

Lilia snorts. "Do you truly expect us to believe you'd come back if we ask nicely?"

Victor doesn't reply with words, but the sheepish smile that takes up his face is answer enough. No, once he's with Yuuri, he doesn't think anything could pull him away.

"Just go, Vitya.And write from time to time."

Lilia waves her hand at him in clear dismissal. Her face is soft now, though, clearly fond enough to allow her feelings to show.

"I will," Victor promises, heart growing and warm.

"Take that Rainbow of yours, too," Yakov tells him right before he leaves. "He'll most likely die of a broken heart if you leave him behind, and I won’t have time to handle all that."

Grinning, Victor skips towards the door. "Sir, yes, sir!"

The sun that shines brightly outside for the first time in days feels like a lovely kiss of new hope on Victor's skin.

 

 

 

 

Yuuri isn't at the nursery, and he has long since left the breeding cave with Raths in tow. Naturally, Victor checks Rath's habitat next, but to his surprise, he doesn't find him there, either. Neither Yuuri, nor his Stoneheart are anywhere in sight. Victor heads to the inn where Yuuri has been staying, but the innkeeper tells him he's already checked out.

"Ten minutes ago," the man says, looking at his ledger. "Said he was going home. You might still catch him, if you hurry."

Surprised, since he wasn't expecting Yuuri to leave before the Gathering even ends, Victor stays still for a few seconds. And then, once the shock passes, he breaks out into a run.

He bursts onto the portal platform so fast that when the magic spits him on the main island, where all the travelling begins and ends, he stumbles so hard that he almost falls on his face. He scrapes his palms on the stone pathway when he catches himself on all fours, but even though it stings, he shoots up and runs towards the departure zone without wasting a second.

There, from afar, he sees the red of Raths' wings.

"Yuuri!"

He can't see him yet, but he runs at top speed towards where the Stoneheart's horns tower over the travellers. Victor bumps into someone, apologizes quickly, and without even looking back, speeds up.

"Yuuri!"

Gasping for breath, Victor pushes past the last of the crowd, and there! Standing with a bag over one shoulder and one hand on Raths’ side, Yuuri turns towards him, surprise bright on his face.

"Victor?" he asks. "What are you doing here?"

But Victor isn't listening. He simply runs over and tackles him, because putting all the joy, all the hope he has for the future in simple words is impossible. And because it's impossible, he chooses a different way to convey his feelings. A simpler way. A way that no matter what cannot be misunderstood and–

He kisses him.

They fall into the grass together. At the last moment Victor puts one hand under Yuuri's head to protect it, but Yuuri doesn't look like he cares about that at all. His dazed eyes stare up at Victor, while his lips remain parted even when Victor pulls back a little to smile at him.

"What… what was that?" Yuuri breathes. He flushes the same way he did when they kissed for the first time, and Victor's heart trembles as if in response to it.

He should tell him, Victor thinks. It's good news– _amazing_ _news_ , after all. He should tell Yuuri right away, or better yet – he should just jump onto Makkachin's back and follow him to Hasetsu, and never leave his side again.

Something stills his tongue, though. It isn't that Victor doesn't want to tell him, not that he doesn't want to go with him right now. But after everything, after all the pain he's been through, he cannot help feeling just a little bit petty about it…

"I just couldn't let you go without one last kiss," Victor says, smiling. "I promise I'm not here to ask you to stay, and I won't ask you to let me come with you. I– I still can’t understand why you said the things you've said, but I don't want that to be the last of us, Yuuri." He's lying on top of Yuuri, but neither of them make a move to change this. Yuuri looks at him in stunned silence, so once again, Victor repeats: "Please, don't let this be the last of us."

"But how…" Yuuri starts, and pauses to lick his lips and swallow. "How can we go on like this? If you're here and I'm there, isn't it just–"

"There's  always magic," Victor interrupts him. "There's magic and there's portals, and there's the rift. I will visit you when I'm free, and you can visit me whenever you want. We can talk every day! We can see each other anytime!"

Yuuri opens his mouth, but closes it soon after without saying anything. A thinking wrinkle shows on his forehead, and this time Victor doesn't fight the impulse to take his face in his hands and rest a kiss on it. Yuuri blinks, blushes, and says:

"Okay. If… if that's something you want."

"I do," Victor says, honestly. "Very much. I always meant it when I said that I want to be with you, Yuuri."

Yuuri gently takes one of Victor's hands. "And I always meant it when I said 'me too'."

"Then…?"

"Yeah." Yuuri gives him a smile. "If you want a long-distance relationship, if you're okay with that, then I selfishly want to keep you."

Trembling all the way to his very bones, Victor bows his head to rest it against Yuuri's shoulder. He should not be so affected by this, but tears fill his eyes, despite what he thinks. He swallows hard.

"Keep me forever," Victor begs.

"For as long as you want me," Yuuri replies, and it's good enough.

After all, Victor cannot imagine a day when he won't.

 

 

 

 

It's barely been a day since Yuuri left Yubileyny – since he left _Victor_ – and he already misses it more than he would ever allow himself to think before. It's hard to get back to his quiet life in Hasetsu, when all he can think about is Victor and his smiles, his hair glowing in the warm sun shining over the Rainbow island, his voice sweetly calling Yuuri's name…

Maybe things would've been easier if Yuuri had the strength to completely cut himself off from Victor, but he was never good at handling his own feelings. He was never good at wanting things and getting them. He knew that he said many selfish things to Victor, many cruel things, but with every single one of them Yuuri's own heart was crying out in pain as well. He hurt himself, carved his heart with his love, all for Victor – so that he, at least, didn't have to choose between two things he loved.

But, as always, Victor took him by surprise.

Even now, whenever Yuuri thinks back to the way Victor knocked him off his feet, he cannot help but smile. Only Victor could do something like that, something so extraordinary, something so–

"Yuuri!"

He turns at the call of his name to find Mari waving him over from the doors of their inn. Beyond the house rises a comforting fog of warm air from the onsen. Yuuri walks faster across the stone pathways strewn with fallen sakura petals from the nearby trees.

"You've got a visitor," Mari tells him as soon as he's within earshot.

"Visitor?" Yuuri frowns. "Who?"

Yuuri's thoughts immediately go to Victor, but… It's only been a day. Even Victor wouldn't come all this way after such a short time.

Mari shrugs. "Mom checked them in."

"That's weird. I'm not expecting anyone?" Yuuri steps into the inn after Mari. "Did mom say who?"

"Didn't ask. Go bother mom if you want to know. She should be–" Before she finishes, they see their mother come out of one of the dining rooms with an empty tray. "Ma! Yuuri's back."

She turns towards them, pressing a finger to her lips, while her entire face lights up with a smile.

"Oh, Yuuri! Good, good!" She quickly walks over, smiling. She pats him on the arm sweetly, but then she frowns. "You should've told us your boyfriend will be coming over, dear. We would've prepared a better place for him instead of that old banquet room next to yours. But, what's done is done. Just make sure he's comfortable and doesn't want for anything, okay?"

"Boyfriend?" Mari repeats while Yuuri chokes on his own spit.

"A very handsome boy," their mom praises, unaware of Mari's wickedly gleaming eyes. "Came with a Rainbow dragon, and they both looked like they could use a bath, so I sent them to the onsen first thing. But he was so polite when he asked about you, Yuuri! I think he must really care about you, no?"

"Um… I–" Yuuri starts, feeling heat overtake his face, even though the grin Mari sports is nothing but playful teasing. "I should, um, go? Check up on him. Yes. I'm gonna–"

He points back with his thumb and, quite literally, runs away, chased by Mari's raspy laughter. His heart is beating wildly in his chest, but the surprise is only a part of the storm that rages inside him. Another part of it is excitement, it's hope, it's–

It's Victor. Here. _In Hasetsu._

It's only been a day, but he's already here, and somehow… somehow Yuuri cannot wait a second longer to see him. Without thinking, he bursts through the doors of the onsen, where the open air baths steam high into the sky. The sun is setting over the one and only island of Hasetsu and in its glow Yuurifirstsees the colours of the rainbow that shift on Makkachin's scales, and then the unmistakable silver of Victor's hair, which stops him like petrified.

Slowly, Victor turns towards the noise Yuuri's entrance made.

"Hello, Yuuri!"

Victor grins, and suddenly Yuuri is reminded of that first day they met: when he arrived at Yubileyny on Raths, a lonely man about to get swept off his feet by someone he would've thought out of his league. Someone, who has followed him all the way here.

"Victor…" Yuuri breathes, awed. "How…?"

"Lillia and Minako decided to enter a long term partnership for breeding events," Victor explains, wading through the water until he's at the very edge of the pool. "So I'm here as the envoy from Yubileyny. We can breed together again! Isn't that wonderful?"

He rests his elbows on the stones that surround the water, and props his head on his hand. His smile is bright, and it's lovely, and Yuuri can't help it when tears fill his eyes. He takes a step forward, unsure, and then another.

"You're here… to stay?" Yuuri asks.

"For the next event," Victor answers, smiling. "And then I think you will be coming to Yubileyny after, and then we will come back here for the next one, and so on. Or at least that's the plan for now."

Yuuri takes one more step.

"So we can…" he stops, out of breath.

"We can be together," Victor finishes for him. His smile softens. "We can be together, and I can keep on breeding and spending time with you. I won't have to lose anything. I won't have to choose anything."

It seems too good to be true. Everything Yuuri’s wanted... is Victor saying he can have it? That he can have him without hurting either himself or Victor to get it? That it's just given to them – to be happy, together, forever?

"But," he starts, and stops again, because Victor clicks his tongue.

Slowly, as if to spite the seriousness of the moment, Victor pulls himself out of the onsen waters. He's naked, completely and fully naked, and Yuuri's eyes brush over his body before he can think of what he's doing. A blush instantly covers his face, and he steps back to give Victor some privacy, but Victor ignores him and only steps closer. He takes Yuuri's chin in hand and turns his head until Yuuri has no choice but to look into his eyes.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Victor asks, silky and smooth.

His thumb caresses Yuuri's jaw, sparking shivers with its gentle touch. The water drips off of Victor's body, slowly, steadily, and Yuuri tries very hard not to think of what he's just seen, but… with Victor this close it seems impossible.

Yuuri licks his lips, a nervous tick that has Victor's eyes darken. It's silly, but Yuuri thinks–

He lifts his hand to Victor's and closes it around the wrist – and, yes. Victor's pulse thunders against his fingers, much like Yuuri's own is doing in his veins. He's just as excited, just as happy, just as…

"Very happy," Yuuri answers, finally. "I just wasn't expecting you."

"Isn't that what's so great about surprises?" Victor tilts his head, smiling in that precious way that has Yuuri love him more with every smile, and Yuuri can't think of anything other than kissing him.

"You sure love your surprises," he whispers.

"Almost as much as I love you," Victor chirps.

And how can Yuuri hold back after that?

He pulls on Victor's wrist, and does what his heart desires most. Their lips come together as if no time at all passed between their last kiss and now, and even if Victor's face is wet from the steam, even if his body is already leaving wet patches in Yuuri's clothes, Yuuri pulls him closer still, and kisses him like a man dying of thirst.

It doesn't help any that Victor gives as good as he gets. They are both out of breath when they pull back, but both smile through it, too.

"Now, that's a greeting I was counting on," Victor says, sounding so happy that even Yuuri's ears turn red.

The teasing doesn't last long, though. Victor sobers up quickly, and looks at Yuuri with honest question in his eyes. Almost as if he's afraid of the answer. Almost as if he thinks Yuuri could ever deny him anything at this point.

"I know this is sudden and I've given you no warning, but… is it okay if I stay?" Victor asks.

And Yuuri, who has never known the feeling of wanting to hold onto someone as badly as he wishes to hold onto Victor, gathers him close and refuses to let go, before he answers:

"Please, stay."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this, my friends, is all! I hope you enjoyed this story, even though it was rushed fxchyb and that it brought some sweet memories to those of you who played dragonvale before, or maybe made the others interested in playing?   
> anywho, thank you for reading, and see you next week for something a little bit more spicy! ;3c


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